


Sun Tomorrow

by VintageVulpes



Series: SPN Season 13 Spec [3]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Destiel - Freeform, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Part Two, Plural, Saileen - Freeform, Season 13 spec/deviation/AU, canonical violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-01
Updated: 2017-11-11
Packaged: 2019-01-31 06:34:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 28,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12676356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VintageVulpes/pseuds/VintageVulpes
Summary: Continuation of "One More Chance".Chapter 3 is now edited





	1. 13x13

**November 14, 2017 -- 10:15 AM**  
**Lebanon, Kansas (Bunker)**

Dean sighed and leaned his left elbow on the library table, using that hand to cover his mouth while his other rubbed at his right thigh compulsively as he stared at his laptop screen blankly.

It took an extra second for Cas to look up from his laptop to notice Dean’s sudden change in demeanor. He tilted his head and furrowed his brow. “Dean?”

No response.

Cas leaned forward and reached across the table so that his hand was within Dean’s peripheral vision. “Dean, what’s wrong?”

“Hm,” he uttered, blinking rapidly as he dropped his hand from his face.

“What is it?”

“Oh,” he huffed and diverted his gaze. “Thinkin’ ‘bout Mom.”

Cas sighed.

“Why won’t he do it, Cas? Why won’t Jack open the portal again?”

“I’m not convinced he even knows _how_ he did it. It opened while Kelly was still in labor, it was a result of the immense power of him being brought into this world.”

“Yeah, but he could try,” Dean replied harshly, his pupils dilating as he met Cas’ gaze. “She’s in Apocalypse Land with Lucifer!”

“That’s part of his hesitation to try, he’s afraid that if he opens it, Lucifer will come out instead of your mom. You have to understand, he’s terrified of him, possibly more than we are.”

Dean scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“Try to see it from his point of view. Even trying to tear that same hole back into space in time is a danger to this world, let alone the risk of having it open long enough that something come out the other side, be it Lucifer or the war torn demons and angels from that side. We just put this world back together not a week ago. Are you prepared to tear it apart again?”

The fight left Dean in a rush and he sagged in his chair, defeated. “No. No, you’re right. I gotta start appreciating the good stuff, you know? Instead of just looking at the bad. I’m working on it, I am.” 

“I understand, Dean, we normally don’t have the time to appreciate the good we get our way.”

“No,” he huffed, “I guess we don’t.” 

Cas stood and walked around the table to kneel in front of Dean, who began to protest the humbling position before Cas placed a gentle hand on his knee. 

“I’m sorry, I keep pushing everything so hard. We just closed Hell and Heaven is open again so good souls won’t suffer in the veil anymore. It’s a great time to take a breather. I’ve just pushed so hard and so long for this moment… I didn’t realize it was actually here,” he finished and caressed Cas’ cheek with the pad of his thumb.

When Cas leaned into his touch and offered a comforting smile, Dean relaxed further, the tension wrinkles around his eyes softening. “Okay, new promise,” Dean continued, referring to their promise to one another that they’d always stand beside one another. “We remember to talk about and appreciate the good. No more pushing. We’re getting too old for that anyway.”

Cas feigned offense, screwing his lips tighter and giving Dean a mocking glare. “Who are you calling old?”

As an unrestrained laugh escaped Dean, he adjusted his touch to Cas’ cheek to rest at the base of his neck. They shared a light moment together, enjoying one another's presence with content smiles on their faces, before thoughts of his mother came crashing down on him again. 

“It’s just... I just,” he let out a bitter breath of despair, “I just got her back, you know? We hugged it out and everything. She just got used to being alive again here, in this world, and now she has to fight for her life in a world she didn’t make it in either…”

Cas nodded his understanding and squeezed Dean’s knee. “I will talk to him, Dean. We will go over the options. We _will_ get Mary back.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes.” 

Dean placed his hand over Cas’ and released a relaxing breath. “Do you think she’s even still alive?” 

With a reassuring, closed lip smile, Cas nodded and turned his hand over to grip Dean’s to give it a heartening squeeze. “She’s a Winchester.”

He chuckled and nodded. “Yeah, alright.”

Cas smiled and stood, cupping Dean’s cheek in the hand that wasn’t intertwined with Dean’s fingers before standing to press a lingering kiss to his forehead. When Dean leaned into the touch, falling forward as though to feel more, the corners of Cas’ lips turned upwards. After a few seconds of keeping his lips against Dean’s crown, Cas pulled away and looked down in time to see Dean flutter his eyes back open. 

Just as Dean opened his mouth to say something, the bunker door opened.

“That’s probably Sam,” Dean muttered but when Cas moved to step away, he held onto his hand tighter, refusing to let go right away; both of their arms extending to full length until they held on by their fingertips.

“Hey, Dean? You, uh, you in the library?” Sam called without descending. 

Suspicious, Dean glanced over to Cas with squinted eyes but didn’t move to stand. “Uhm, yeah, why?”

“Just, uhm, wondering…” Sam replied, his voice raised a few octaves. “Hey, so, is- is Cas with you?”

Dean rolled his eyes and Cas smirked. “Yes, I’m here, Sam.”

“Oh- oh! Good, great…” 

“Okay, this is getting ridiculous!” Dean said and stood from his seat and started to walk over to the War Room so he could see Sam at the top of the stairs. “We’ll leave a fucking sock on the door, okay? You don’t need to be an asshole about this-”

“No, Dean! No, don’t come over here yet! It’s not about you and Cas.”

Now Dean was worried, as was Cas who took a few hurried steps over to stand beside Dean, both of them stopping just outside the war room. “Sam, what’s wrong,” Dean asked, not bothering to hide the concern in his voice.

“Listen, I don’t want you to get mad, okay? Just… just don’t freak out!”

“Sammy?”

“Just… don’t freak out,” he said and they could hear the first few steps of Sam descending the metal stairs. Directly following Sam’s heavy footsteps was a clicking sound. As a sheepish Sam made himself seen, keeping his head down with a pout on his lips, Dean stiffened and frowned deeply.

“Nope! No! Uh-uh!” 

“Dean, you said you wouldn’t freak out!” Sam said and held out his hands to placate Dean who was beginning to push Cas out in front of him. 

“No, _no_! I said _nothing_. _You told_ me not to freak out! I agreed to nothing,” he argued, keeping his eyes on the panting pit bull standing beside Sam.

“Okay, okay, you’re right,” Sam agreed and rubbed his neck, just under the bun on the back of his head. “But-”

“Sam, he could be a familiar or a skinwalker or- or… rabid!”

“No, she’s not! I checked for all of those _and_ for fleas. She’s completely clean!”

“Okay, whatever! Doesn’t matter. She’s not staying!”

“Aw, why not?!”

“Because… because _dogs_ , Sammy, _that’s_ why!”

“You liked Colonel…” Sam argued with a pout and glanced down at the white pitbull, who looked up with wide blue eyes, tail still wagging, and her open mouth may as well be turned into a wide grin. 

“Yeah, ‘cause Colonel was a good boy!”

“So is she!” Sam dropped to his knees beside the pitbull, her body practically vibrating with excitement as she started to lick Sam’s face. “Look at her, she’s a marshmallow!”

As though attempting to further Sam’s argument, she turned to look at Dean and barked happily. Dean jumped and stood behind Cas who was smiling like a goofball. 

“Dean,” Cas started and looked over his shoulder to see Dean trying not to cower. “Why are you afraid of dogs?”

Instead of going on a tangent about Hellhounds, Dean stared at Cas with wide eyes before shouting, “why are you not?!”

Cas gave him a grumpy pout and shook his head before crouching in his place in front of Dean and held out his hands. 

The excitable dog bounded over, her whole body wagging with each swish of her whip like tail. She placed her head straight into Cas’ chest and allowed him to scratch at her slender sides and back. Both brothers watched on at the interaction as Cas chuckled; Sam with delight and fondness while Dean stared in horror. 

“Marshmallow would make a good name for her,” Cas said as he fell back to rest on his heels, still rubbing at her face and trying to resist her licks of love at his jaw.

“We are not keeping it!” 

“But why,” Sam whined while Cas looked up in confusion from his place on the ground and asked, “Why not?” 

“Because, because, dog,” Dean repeated his argument as though it was all he needed to say to win.

“I don’t understand, you got used to my other dog being in the car and then Colonel was with us for so long and you really liked him.”

“Again, good boy!”

“Good girl!” Sam pointed at her.

Dean looked down at her and frowned, watching how Cas lit up at the affection Marshmallow was giving him then looked up at Sam to see his pleading puppy eyes. 

“Aw, Sam, but… is the bunker really a good place to keep a dog? There’s no light…” he pointed out the lack of windows.

“I’ll take her on my runs- she ran with me today and then followed me home.”

Dean took a deep breath and then looked back down at Marshmallow who was now sitting between Cas’ legs. 

“Dean, please, I need this. I need _her_. I’ve always wanted a dog- and, listen, maybe we can train her to go on hunts! You know, like, teach her to scent out monsters and ghosts and stuff. Dogs are really attuned to that sort of thing.”

He remained silent and watched Marshmallow lay down and flip over onto her back so Cas could rub her belly. At the blatant display of cuteness, Dean rolled his eyes but said nothing.

“Look how sweet she is…” Sam continued to try to sway Dean’s opinion.

Cas looked up and held out his left hand for Dean to take. He hesitated but eventually placed his right hand in Cas’, relenting when Cas tugged to pull him closer and to his knees. Anxious but trusting, Dean allowed Cas to bring his hand down to Marshmallow, who flipped back over and got to her feet to sniff the new, nervous scent. 

It took all of five seconds before Marshmallow licked his hand and pushed into him as well. Cas and Sam shared a look of triumph when Dean started to pet her head. She whined with pleasure and leaned into his hand that was currently massaging her left ear. 

“You know,” Sam started and Dean looked up at him but didn’t cease his efforts in bonding with Marshmallow. “We could always perform that spell again, you could get to know her like you got to know Colonel…”

“Oh yeah,” Dean scoffed and rolled his eyes. “And have the urge to sniff crotches and stick my head out moving cars? I think not.” He took a deep breath and looked back at Marshmallow who was gazing up at him, meeting his eyes. “Fine, she can stay.”

Sam started to celebrate, a smile spreading across his face and eyes lit up with delight, but Dean interrupted.

“ _But_! If she chews on my shoes or poops in the bunker, there’s going to be consequences!” 

“She won’t! I promise!” Sam assured and as Dean got to his feet, Sam walked up to him and pulled him in for a bear hug. “Thank you!”

At nearly being tackled by his brother, Dean grunted but returned the embrace. “Jesus Christ, I haven’t seen you this excited for something in a long time.”

“Thank you, Dean,” is all Sam said as he tightened his hold around Dean.

**O.o.O.o**

**November 16, 2017 -- 3:50 PM**  
 **Lebanon, Kansas (Bunker)**

Sam looked over to where Dean was clicking at his laptop and furrowed his brow. “And you’re sure you’re okay with this?”

Dean blinked as though stunned. “What,” he asked with a scoff, confused at Sam’s random question.

“Cas, leaving to go to Heaven for a couple days, you’re okay with that?”

Marshmallow huffed in her sleep, laying at Sam’s feet under the table, and made a whimpering sound that they’d come to associate as her ‘sleep bark’. 

His eyes widened slightly and he released a slow breath. “Yeah, well, I was a little nervous at first but I figure if any of the angels try to double cross us and mess with Cas, we just unleash the kid on ‘em.”

After a moment of consideration, Sam seemed to accept the response and nodded. “He say why he was going?” 

“No,” Dean lied following a moment of hesitation.

When Sam shrugged, Dean went back to his research; looking for a case. They fell into a comfortable silence, only interrupted by the occasional shifting and half barks from Marshmallow until Sam’s phone chirped. Dean didn’t react but when Sam looked at his phone screen, he tilted his head to the side and frowned. 

“That’s weird…”

Dean continued to stare at his computer but lifted his chin a little to show he was actively listening. “What is?”

“This text,” Sam replied and held out his phone for Dean to look at.

“‘One time only offer’,” Dean read aloud, “‘meet at 721 E Hwy 36 Smith Center, KS 66967 at 4:30 PM today. Password: Jellyfish’... what the fuck is this shit?”

“I dunno.”

“Unknown number,” Dean observed.

“It’s kinda weird, right?”

Dean dropped the phone onto the table and typed the address into his laptop browser. “It’s an electronic store called, ‘A Full House’. Less than twenty five minutes away.”

“What,” Sam started, his tone incredulous, “you’re seriously thinking about going?”

“One time offer only, Sammy. We need a case, this seems like something we should check out…”

Sam craned his neck forward, his eyes narrowed. “You kidding me? How is this our thing?”

“They obviously know we’re close by and knew your number. You give out your phone number recently?”

“No, I-” he froze, his mouth still hanging open with unspoken words. He leaned back and shrugged minutely. “Yeah, uhm, I gave Alex my number to give to Kendall, that hacker chick.”

“See? Now we definitely need to go.” Dean checked his watch, “It’s almost four, I say we leave now and scope the place out before the meet time.”

Sam nodded. “Good idea.”

**O.o.O.o**

**November 16, 2017 -- 4:17 PM**  
 **Smith Center, Kansas**

Sitting outside the store in the parking lot, the boys watched the front door for anyone that acted suspicious or stood out. Dean had a burger in his hands, his fries balancing on the dashboard. 

“So, you gave Max and Rowena keys, right?” Sam asked.

Dean nodded and took an oversized bite out of his burger. “Yeah,” he said around a cheekful. 

“Do you think either of them are actually ever goin’ come back?” Sam asked, his eyes focused forward to watch the pedestrians come in and out of the store.

Dean shrugged and swallowed his mouthful of food. “Maybe…”

Slurping his smoothie obnoxiously, Sam started to reach for one of the fries but, mid-bite out of his burger, Dean lunged forward and slapped his hand away.

“Dude!” Dean scolded.

“One fry, Dean, _one_.” 

“You had a chance to get fries, you gotta fuckin’ smoothie. Lie in the bed you’ve made, Sammy.”

Sam narrowed his eyes, finished off his smoothie, and grumbled, “jerk.”

“Bitch,” Dean mumbled around a mouthful of burger.

Soon after the attempted fry abduction, Dean finished his meal and wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand. “Okay, you ready?”

“I didn’t see anyone suspicious go in or out,” Sam pointed out and helped Dean stuff all the garbage into the large Biggerson's takeout bag and stuffed it into the passenger footwell.

Dean shrugged and checked his pistol for a round in the chamber and the safety on. “Maybe they work here?”

After considering it for a moment, Sam shrugged and leaned to get out of the car. They both concealed their weapons in the back of their pants, their shirts covering the grips.

They walked inside, the automatic doors swishing and a door chime binging as they stepped through the threshold. Both men scanned the immediate entrance and tried to see over the shelves and appliance displays. 

“Hi! Welcome to A Full House! How can I help make your house full today?” A peppy woman, wearing the employee, yellow vest and a purple colored shirt, practically skipped up to them. She planted her hands on her hips and smiled brightly.

While Dean ignored her, Sam offered an awkward smile, his eyebrows raised. “Uh, we’re just looking today…”

“New washer and dryer? Or computers? What are you looking for?”

Sam took a deep breath to bide his time in how to respond, trying to be polite while Dean glared at all the corners of the stores with a scrutinizing squint. 

“Neither,” Dean said gruffly, “T.V.’s.”

His brother looked at him in mild surprise but covered it with a warm smile directed at the woman. “Sorry,” he glanced at her nametag, “Pam, we’re looking for a T.V., is that--?”

“It’s this way,” she said with jovial arm pump and started to walk away, implying they follow her. Sam couldn’t tell if she was being genuine with her excitement or borderline condescending. He didn’t get a chance to find out because Dean held up a hand and shook his head.

“Don’t worry about it, we’ll find ‘em.”

Sam smiled again when Pam faltered. “Thanks, we’ll let you know if we have questions.”

That seemed to encourage her and she nodded. “Great! Let me know…” she walked away and greeted the very next customer with the same exact greeting; wording, tone, and skip.

They walked over to the electronic section of the store and started to browse the widescreen televisions. Dean stopped in front of a 60”, curve television and placed his hands on his hips, a thoughtful look on his face. 

Sam had walked down three more sets before realizing Dean wasn’t beside him anymore. He took four long strides to rejoin his brother and frowned. “What, what is it?”

“Well, I was thinking… what if we turned the far end of the library into an entertainment area? You know, get a rug, a couch… maybe a recliner… and _this_.”

“Are you serious??” Sam looked at his brother in a mix of annoyance and ‘bitch face’. “You’re actually shopping right now?” He lowered his voice to a whisper as he said, “we’re supposed to be looking for Kendall!”

“Oh please, she’s the one pulling the strings, she’ll make herself known,” Dean whispered harshly back. “Seriously though, check it out!” He pointed to the screen with the underwater scene playing on it, jellyfish floating gracefully through crystal blue water. “It looks like we’re _in_ the ocean.”

Sam stared at Dean blankly before turning to look at the television and his mouth parted slightly. “Dean, the password,” he whispered. 

Dean took an extra moment to consider it and then looked over his shoulder and scanned the store again. “Okay, so, we’re in the right place then. That’s confirmed, right?”

“I’m getting a bad feeling about all this,” Sam muttered.

“Okay, Han Solo, just keep your eyes peeled.”

They started walking again, peering down each electronic aisle; modems, gaming consoles, tablets...

 _“Having network issues?”_ A voice called from within the store, too soft to be the store speakers but too electronic to be an actual person. _“Old, crusty Britain's pissing you off? Come to me, a gorgeous, brilliant woman who only wants to help!”_

Both Sam and Dean froze in their tracks when they reached the empty, laptop aisle. On either side were rows of varying models of laptops but every single screen had the same face on it, a woman blatantly calling them out on the Men of Letters. 

She was smirking subtly as she continued, _“Enter the password and receive a free gift!”_

Sam stopped in front of one and Dean kept close to his side. “Uhm, hello,” he asked while simultaneously tapping the spacebar in an attempt to wake the system up or interact with the program.

All of the other laptops turned off one by one, their screens going black. From one far end of the aisle to the other, every three seconds, the two farthest on either side would turn off up until the sequence got to their laptop in the middle. 

Dean checked over his shoulder and the laptop directly across from theirs had turned off as well, leaving only one on. In the meantime, the woman on the screen had frozen. 

“What the hell was that?” Dean grumbled and looked around again while Sam repeatedly tapped at random keys to try and get a response. “This is bullshit.”

The screen blinked and Sam sighed in frustration. “Great.”

When it came back on, the woman was back and smiling wryly, flashing her white, straight teeth at them. “Please state your password,” she said in a mock, automated voice.

“Uhm,” Sam started and furrowed his brow as though unsure, “jellyfish…?”

“Good to finally meet you Winchesters, in the flesh,” she said with a wink, tucking her dark, tightly curled hair behind her ear.

Dean huffed, “Yeah, and you in the laptop.”

Kendall smirked. “And _you_ must be Dean.”

He offered a smirk of his own and a two fingered salute. 

“Why the cloak-n-dagger,” Sam asked.

“I’m the best hacker in the world,” she batted her big brown eyes, “not the most famous. I’d like to remain anonymous- less trouble that way.”

“What like Banksy,” Sam scoffed.

Dean furrowed his brow and looked at Sam to mouth, ‘ _who’s Banksy_ ’? To which Sam waved off.

“Yeah, like Banksy, only, well, less… _artsy_. Honestly though? I wanted to make sure Alex wasn’t just messin’ with me. I had to be sure it was the _real_ Winchesters, not just some LARPer who got off on the books. Big fan, by the way,” she finished with a waggle of her brows and a brief lower lip bite.

Sam rolled his eyes, having flashbacks of Becky and Dean crossed his arms and leaned back on his heels.

“What makes you so sure we’re legit,” Dean asked. 

She appeared thoughtful and took a deep breath through her nose. “The way you hold yourselves, the look in your eyes-” She leaned closer to her screen and thus they got a good look at her as she tried to look into their eyes through a video chat. “-haunted. Like you’ve seen things no one else has ever seen before.”

They both shifted, rolling their shoulders or switching their weight from one foot to the other. 

“Well,” Dean said, pushing forward. “What all did Alex tell you about our situation?”

“Enough.” She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms against her chest, sucking on the corner of her lips which her painted with a dark, brownish-purple lipstick. 

Sam’s eyes darted to the left then back at her with raised eyebrows. “‘Enough’?”

“Enough that I’m willing to help. Well,” she shrugged nonchalantly, “for a price.”

Dean rolled his eyes and took an over dramatic flare of pretending to walk away before spinning on his heels and coming back. “There is always a price. Why can’t anybody do things out of the goodness of their hearts anymore?”

“We do,” Sam said with a shrug.

He pointed at Sam in direct assent but his dimples were still in place at his cheeks. 

“You haven’t even heard my price!” Kendall said defensively and sat forward again, pushing her face up close enough to the camera that they could make out her freckles.

“Fine.” Dean crossed his arms, his head tilted to the side in condescending expectation. “What is your price?”

“I get to go to your super-secret, special hideout!” 

Dean prepared to protest but when he looked to Sam and saw him shrug and pout his lip in an ‘eh, why not’ kind of way, he shuttered his eyes and sighed. 

“Fine.”

Kendall seemed to vibrate in her seat, suppressing a squeal before schooling her expression to appear nonchalant and sultry. “Meet you outside,” she said moments before her screen blacked out. All of the laptops in the aisle turned back on and displayed the pink jellyfish screensaver.

After a moment, Dean dropped his arms and opened his mouth to comment when the fire alarm went off. He closed his mouth just as the sprinklers came on and gave Sam a deadpan look while Sam didn’t even try not to look annoyed. They both stood under the spray a little longer before simultaneously turning to walk out of the store that was thrown into chaos; shoppers and employees ran out of the building while screaming, opportunists grabbed anything that wasn't bolted down, and managers tried to save equipment.

**O.o.O.o**

Dean and Sam fell into their seats heavily, sopping wet, their jaws clenched tightly.

“That was unnecessary,” Sam said through pursed lips, though it didn’t appear he was talking to Dean.

Kendall popped up in the back seat, her natural ringlets bouncing around her shoulders with the sudden movement. Instead of surprising them with her sudden appearance, they surprised her with pointing their pistols in her face. 

Her eyes widened but she quickly covered it with a flirty smile. “How'd you know?”

“I thought you said you read the books,” Dean said as he turned back in his seat, Sam keeping his weapon trained on her, while he turned the ignition. 

She rolled her eyes and fell back into the seat, unperturbed by Sam’s gun in her face. “Whatever, let’s get this show on the road.”

“You got stuff you need to help us hack into the Men of Letter’s network?”

“Yep!” She held up a black pack up triumphantly. 

Sam snatched it out of her hands and she took offense, going to grab it back by throwing herself forward, against the back of their front bench. Her right arm was stretched out between them to reach for her bag while Sam unzipped it and Dean took the opportunity to grab her wrist and drag the edge of a silver blade across the top of her forearm. While Dean was checking for reaction to silver, Sam started to recite the exorcism without so much as looking away from his work at getting her bag open.

“Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus…”

“Bless you,” she grunted at Sam and then hissed at Dean’s blade. “Ow! What the fuck?!” she wrenched her arm free and fell back against the seat again, trying to further herself from them as she cradled her arm to her stomach. “Gimme my stuff back!”

Dean tossed a roll of gauze at her over his shoulder and started to pull out of the parking lot while Sam ran a check over all her tech for bugs or trackers. 

“Hey,” she continued to protest and kicked at the back of the bench. “You guys are being assholes!”

“Consider it penance for pulling the fire alarm on us,” Dean shouted back, his eyes on the road.

“Had to make a show to prove I was legit-”

“Everybody knows how to pull a fire alarm,” he barked.

“Hey, I didn’t have to help you guys! Alex didn’t mention you guys were a coupla douchebags!”

Sam raised a brow and glanced over to Dean who chuckled dryly. “Listen,” Sam started and turned in his seat to look at her directly, his left leg bent and resting on the bench and arm draped over the back. “We appreciate your willingness to help, really, but these guys we’re hacking into are the worst of the worst. So, you have to understand, we need to be very careful.”

“Yeah, you could be working for them,” Dean added gruffly.

“Or,” Sam said with a shrug, “they could have tagged you and you never would have known it.”

“Why the weird latin shit and _cutting my fucking arm_?!” 

Sam’s eyes widened for a moment before he cleared his throat and shook his head back in order to keep his hair out of his eyes. “I mean, we don’t know how much Alex told you…”

“En-” 

“-enough,” Dean cut her off, “yeah, we got that. Look, you said you read the books, right?”

Kendall took a second and then huffed and grabbed at the gauze that had rolled off the bench and into the footwell. “Jesus Christ, you guys are insane. You were testing me to make sure I wasn’t a monster?”

“Yes,” the both brothers said in unison. 

She started to wrap her arm but Sam intervened and tossed her bag beside her before helping her bandage her cut.

**O.o.O.o**

**November 16, 2017 -- 7:20 PM**  
 **Lebanon, Kansas (Bunker)**

After verifying Kendall’s identity with Alex and Jody, the boys drove her into the bunker and set her up in the library. She was currently typing at her computer rapidly, her Gas n Sip, mega-sized root beer sitting to the right of her set up; her laptop, a chromebook, Sam's laptop, and a propped up tablet playing a binge of 'Sirens'. 

“So lemme get this straight,” she removed her thick framed, round glasses, “you want _everything_.”

“Yes,” Sam stated simply, standing over Kendall with his hands on his hips.

“Do you realize what I'm looking at here? There are at least one hundred years of mission reports here. _Plus_ it's split into “American Mission Reports” as well as their own.”

Dean huffed, “A hundred years, really? How's that possible?”

“At _least_. They scanned in old documents into their system-” she looked up at Sam and smiled then glanced back at Dean, “just like Sam did with your lore.” 

Sam scrubbed at his face, irritation bubbling up in his usually calm demeanor. “You can't just make me a backdoor into their system? Why are you transferring, I’d rather be able to access it whenever I want.” 

“This isn't the movies, Sam. I can't just ‘make a back door’ there's a lot more to it than that.”

“Then teach me how.”

“Sam-”

“We need this, Kendall.”

“You’re not listening.”

“No, _you’re_ not listening!”

Dean looked between them and groaned, stretched himself across the table dramatically, and extended his arms over the surface with his head between them and chin propped up against the wood. “You guys are _killing_ me. Can we at least download the American reports, make out a plan to match their algorithm and call it a day?” 

“Dean, they have traps and monster triggers far more advanced than ours, we need that too!” 

“Why do we have to do it all at once,” Dean argued.

“What?”

“Get the network setup, download the mission reports from while they were here and worry about the lore and other shit later! I mean, we've managed so far… Kendall, you'd come back to help us with everything else later, right?”

She looked up at Sam, her eyes flitting up and down his body briefly, then glanced at Dean and nodded. “Yeah, of course. _But_! Like I was _trying_ to say, creating a backdoor isn’t just something you can put into place. There has to be access prior to me exploiting it.” She sighed when both boys continued to stare at her. “Okay, so say you have a Macbook, right? Apple has put in an ‘administrative’ backdoor for troubleshooting or manual maintenance. Unless the Britain’s networks are backed up that way, I can’t make a backdoor.”

When Sam opened his mouth to protest, Kendall continued on, raising her voice a little in a preemptive strike at being talked over. “I can make a backdoor but it requires a remote access and I can only do that through malware, a Trojan Horse of sorts, but someone on their side would have to open it. So, a backdoor would take some time or me getting into their network in person to insert an encrypted system into their computers or servers.”

“Okay, fine.” Sam grumbled and stepped away from her and the setup. “Fine, just get me what you can. Specifically the American reports, anything from Britain’s reports that corresponds with their work here and I want how they encrypt their processing networks, how they get alerts and send them back out.”

“You got it,” Kendall responded and replaced her glasses. She took a long sip of her soda, cracked her knuckles, and got to work.

**O.o.O.o**

**November 18, 2017 -- 12:53 PM**  
 **Lebanon, Kansas (Bunker)**

“So,” Dean set a grilled cheese down in front of Sam, who was staring at the computer screen with great intensity. “You finding what you’re looking for?”

“Yeah, before she left, Kendall and I finished the network for the hunters. I’ll probably launch it by Monday. She said she’d get back to me about the backdoor possibility.”

“Good, sounds like she was a big help.”

“Yep,” he said simply and it kept Dean from walking away as he intended; something was bothering him. 

“Then why the face?”

Sam continued to click and scroll, not bothering to look up or take the sandwich. “What face?”

“Your ugly, pinch-y,” he wiggled his fingers in Sam’s face, “-weird, bitchy face.”

“Wow,” Sam blinked and looked up at him finally, “thanks, Jerk.”

“You’re welcome,” Dean smiled triumphantly, glad to have snapped Sam out of whatever stupor he’d been in, and sat adjacent to his brother. “Seriously though, what are you looking at?”

Sam sighed and ran his hand through his hair as he slouched in his chair. “Mick and Ketch’s reports. But they’re still encrypted, so it’s difficult to tell what they are until I get them open. There’re no timestamps on them until it’s open.”

“That’s annoying,” Dean concurred.

“Yeah, it’s worse than trying to cross reference Dad’s journal,” Sam scoffed.

Dean watched Sam work awhile longer before checking his phone for messages, seeing none, and getting to his feet. “I’m going to go take a shower. When I get back, I’m gonna help you hash this shit out, okay?”

“Thanks, Dean.”

“Sure-” he turned to leave and then saw Marshmallow sitting in the War Room, her tail wagging and tongue out, and he jumped violently. “Damnit,” he muttered. As he walked by her to get to the barracks and showers, Marshmallow got progressively more excited until he patted her head which she took as an invitation to follow after him and trotted happily behind him. 

By the time Dean returned to the library, Marshmallow had returned to Sam but her head was resting in his lap, her tail still and laying flat against the floor. Sam was leaning over the table, his laptop closed, as he stared at a random book on the shelves, unseeing. His head was propped up by his fingers alone; his right thumb braced on his cheek, beside his ear with his index and middle fingertips pressed against his forehead.

“Sam?” Dean called and started to walk over to him briskly, “Sammy? What is it?”

“Magda.”

Dean stood above Sam, his hand on his shoulder. “Magda? What about her? Did she text you?”

Sam looked up at him with reddened, puffy eyes. “No, she didn’t text me. She’s dead. She never made it out of Missouri. After we put her on a bus, Ketch killed her at a reststop. ‘Cleaned up our mess’.”

“Sonofabitch…” Dean muttered and dropped his hand from Sam’s shoulder heavily. 

“She never even got a chance. I didn’t think- she was just… Dean-” he ended hopelessly, his voice weak.

“If Hell wasn’t already closed I’d bring him back just to kill him again,” Dean ground out.

“The things he wrote in here, Dean, he was so explicit. I found the report on Eileen, he _describes_ the chase. Describes what he found out about her while she was on the run. He had plans for Cas too, the things-”

Dean stiffened and his blood ran cold. “Cas?”

“He wanted to capture Cas, he was using me and Mom to get close enough to him so he could contact him- trick him into submission. He was going to run experiments on angels. I mean, the guy was a fucking psychopath. How could I be so stupid to fucking _work_ with him?! I let this happen!”

Petrified, despite nothing having happened, Dean suppressed a shiver and went back to supporting Sam. “No! Sam, _no_!” He gripped Sam’s shoulder tightly in his hand and squeezed. “This isn’t on you. Not any of it, you hear? You said it yourself, he was a psychopath- he had everyone fooled, hell, I shared a drink with him! He knew how to manipulate people. This isn’t on you. None of it. And I’m sorry, Sam. I’m sorry about Magda and Eileen and anyone else he hurt. But we stopped him, okay? We stopped him. He’s dead. It’s over.”

“It’s all a mess.”

“We’re fixing it, Sam. We’ll make it better.”

Sam sighed and dropped his face into his hands. 

“C’mere…” Dean said and tugged on Sam’s arm. Marshmallow moved away and watched as the two brothers shared a tight embrace. “I’m sorry, Sam.”

All Sam could manage was a stiff nod and briefly tightened his embrace before releasing Dean. He sniffled and wiped at his face with one hand and pushed his hair back with his other. “I, uh, I also found a case… if you wanna take a look.”

Dean nodded and clapped Sam on the shoulder one last time. “Yeah, sure, whatcha got?”

He smiled appreciatively and released a slow breath through barely parted lips before saying, “so, get this.”


	2. 13x14

**November 23, 2017 -- 3:00 AM**  
**Lebanon, Kansas (Bunker)**

“Dean… _Dean_! Wake up!” Cas propped himself up on his left side and cupped Dean’s cheek, damp with tears and sweat. Dean was crying out for him and he sounded broken, his voice raspy and cracking from emotion. “Dean, please…” He moved his hand from Dean’s cheek to his shoulder and shook him.

“Cas!” Dean’s eyes shot open but were unfocused as he caught his breath. His hands reached out, silently asking Cas for protection and assurance. 

Without hesitating, Cas pulled Dean into his side and wrapped his left arm under Dean’s shoulders while his right arm gripped his side to hold them flush together. This was his third, violent nightmare in the last week. At first, Cas would keep his distance; after waking him up, he’d give Dean a chance to come back to himself before offering too much solace but it didn’t take long for Dean to seek him out and request being held as a means of comfort. Now, it was the first thing Cas did, no longer forcing Dean to take the first step, he took the responsibility and offered his love to chase away Dean’s fears.

“Dean, it’s okay...” Cas hushed and brought his left hand up to Dean’s head to drag his fingers through the back of his hair, a soothing act he’d discovered soon into their relationship; one that Dean immediately took to and admitted to being a very comforting touch..

“Cas…?” He frowned and came back to himself, his eyes focusing and meeting Cas’ concerned gaze. Dean’s cheek was pressed against Cas’ shoulder so that Cas had to force his chin down to his collarbone to meet Dean’s eyes.

“Yes, Dean.”

“Why’d you leave?”

Cas hesitated and took a deep breath. “Dean, I thought we talked about this. I had to…”

“Tell me why.”

He sighed. “When?”

“What?”

What Cas said next looked as though it physically pained him. “Which time…?”

Dean, taking pity on him but still needing this talk, laid his left hand over Cas’ right, where it was resting on his side. “You know when,” he said softly, sounding more calm than he actually was. “The time you left that…” Dean shifted out from under Cas’ touch so that he could sit up, the blanket falling down to pool at his waist. “-that led to me almost losing you for good.” 

Cas let his hands drop away from Dean to fold them in his lap and leaned up against the headboard beside him. “Kelly was taking me to the sandbox and her reasoning seemed delusioned but I believed that no matter her reason, she was doing what… she was going where I needed to take her. She was going to the sandbox. But when Dagon showed up and then you and Sam showed up… then Kelly took my hand and Jack let his power flow through me… Dean, he showed me-”

Dean carefully kept his gaze on Cas, even when he diverted his eyes. 

“I told you what he showed me,” he reminded and, when Dean nodded, he continued; “I knew that you would be okay. I knew that, even though I was leaving you there, you would be okay. In the end, you and Sam would be happy. So, I left so I could help make that happen.”

“I kept telling myself that you were brainwashed- that he whammied your brain. I kept blaming him. When he went on the lamb, I just kept… I just _knew_ he was evil and when you came to me and said that you were staying with him? Everything bad that happened seemed to stem from him and I couldn’t believe that you’d do anything for him without being controlled somehow. It was the only… That’s the only way I could...”

Cas nodded. “I’m sorry, Dean. I never meant to hurt you. But I left of my own volition- it was to protect you and Sam… it was to give you the future you deserve. He only showed me good things. I just wanted to make them true.” 

There was a pause and Dean continued to stare at Cas despite the fact that he was staring at his folded hands. After another few seconds of silence, Dean laughed; a rushed breath through his nose. “I should be used to it by now.”

Cas tilted his head at him and Dean smiled.

“You putting yourself in harms way for a chance to keep Sam and me safe. I get it, it’s the Winchester way, but you can’t do that anymore, Cas. You can’t keep… just stop running. Let us help. Promise me you’ll let me help. If something comes up, whatever it is, we’ll face it together.”

Cas smiled but barely got to nod in agreement before Dean continued.

“I know you just want to protect me and Sam but you listen to me,” he shifted so his torso was twisted to face Cas more fully, “you need to do things for yourself too. Take care of yourself- _protect_ yourself and do things that make _you_ happy.”

“I’m already doing that,” Cas uttered.

Dean raised a brow in silent question.

“Staying here, with you, Sam, and Jack… building a family here at the bunker. _That_ makes me happy. You keep saying that you’re being selfish by stating your feelings, for entering a relationship with me. Dean, I feel the same way but I like the idea of us being selfish together. In the end, we’re both getting what we want, what we need. We’re both happy.” He paused and looked to Dean. “Right?”

“Yes,” Dean affirmed breathlessly and leaned forward to press his face into the crook of Cas’ neck. “We’ll make the future better together. You, me, Sam, and Jack. We’ll make Jack’s vision true but we do it together. You never needed to do this alone, you are never alone, Cas.”

“I know.”

Dean yawned and pulled himself closer to Cas, nestled against his side.

“Sleep, Dean. Everything is okay now.”

“I love you,” he murmured and nuzzled his nose against Cas’ collarbone, where he was resting his head.

“I love you too, Dean.”

**O.o.O.o**

“Sam,” Cas greeted and stood in the doorway to the kitchen where Sam was currently eating a bowl of oatmeal. He glanced at the clock, it was 8:00 AM.

“Goodmorning, Cas. Coffee?” He indicated to the coffee maker.

“I’d, ah, I’d like to discuss something with you.” 

“Sure, Cas, what’s up?” Sam smiled brightly and indicated to the chair across from him, inviting him to sit.

“It’s about…” he started for the chair but moved slowly, biding his time. “ it’s about my latest visit to Heaven.”

The smile on Sam’s face faltered, as though Cas had said something he hadn’t been expecting, but didn’t fall. “Oh, uh, alright. Everything okay?”

“Well, that depends on... “ Cas shook his head and closed his eyes. “I apologize, I’m making this more difficult than it needs to be. It’s rather ridiculous.”

“It’s okay, Cas, just… take your time.” Sam pushed his cereal bowl away and waited for Cas to gather his thoughts, his arms resting on the surface of the table in front of him as he leaned in.

Once he had them, he took a deep breath and said, “I went to Heaven in search of Eileen Leahy.”

Sam’s face went blank but he said nothing.

“Seeing as she’s not there, I believe her to be in the veil. I also believe we can summon her, if you want.”

Sam half-blinked.

“I know you know how to summon ghosts from the veil… so, I wanted to know if you had something of Eileen’s that we could use. Perhaps an article of clothing? Or… a hairbrush?” When Sam still hadn’t reacted, Cas leaned forward and put a hand on Sam’s forearm. “Sam, are you alright?”

There was a considerable pause before Sam nodded and blinked long and hard. “You think we could find her,” he asked and Cas nodded. “And then what? You escort her to Heaven?”

“That’s- yes, that is a possibility but we could also... “

“.... bring her back.”

“Yes.”

Sam leaned back in his chair, bringing his arms from under Cas’ gentle touch so that his hands were limp, resting palms up against his thighs. “Okay.”

Waiting for more from Sam, Cas remained silent. When Sam said nothing more, Cas diverted his gaze to the left and pursed his lips slightly. “Oh-kay?”

“Yeah, I’m gonna go get Eileen’s things. We’ll summon her.”

**O.o.O.o**

November 23, 2017 -- 4:00 PM  
Lebanon, Kansas (Bunker)

“It’s a basic summoning spell,” Cas said as he helped Sam and Dean lay out the instruments and ingredients on the table. 

Sam was manhandling Eileen’s hairbrush tenderly and slowly, gently, pulled out a single strand of hair from the bristles. 

As Dean opened his mouth to ask a question, the bunker door opened. All three men turned to look and Marshmallow started barking. 

“Whoa,” Claire exclaimed as she walked down the stairs. “When’d you guys get a dog??” 

Sam muttered a command and Marshmallow stopped barking and instead went up to greet her. Claire dropped her duffel from her shoulder and bent down to pet her just as Jack came from the barracks to investigate.

“Claire,” Jack greeted with a gummy smile. 

“Hey, Jack. ‘Sup?”

“Good!” He confused ‘how are you’ with ‘whats up’ but punctuated his reply with a bright smile so Claire couldn’t help but grin back and refrained from correcting him.

“Cool,” she stopped petting the new family member and started for the library, “whatcha guys doin’?”

“Summoning spell,” Cas replied.

“Again? Why is it whenever I’m here you guys are summoning some ghost?” She came to stand beside Dean and looked at the covered body laying on the table, the summoning setup resting below the feet. 

Sam swallowed harshly. “She’s a friend. Her soul is in the veil, we’re getting her out.”

Her eyes widened briefly and she glanced over at Jack as he came to stand beside her. “Oh,” she murmured. 

“Yeah, what are you doin’ here,” Dean asked and brushed his hands off on his jeans.

“Comin’ up from Texas back home, thought I’d stop by.” Claire shrugged and looked to Cas who smiled his greeting.

Claire smiled back before asking, “Can I help?”

“It’s pretty simple,” Cas said, shaking his head. 

“Mkay,” she stepped back a bit, taking Jack’s bicep to pull him with her.

Dean lit the candle while Cas recited the spell. Sam held the strand of brown hair reverently between his index finger and thumb. When the time came and after Dean threw in one last, powdered ingredient into a bronze bowl, Sam tossed in the hair. 

There was a surge of power and the candles were blown out from a gust of wind. 

Not long after, Eileen manifested in the room. She appeared directly by her own head, a look of confusion passing over her features before she managed to look up from her covered body to see everyone standing around the table. Soon after realizing where she was and what she was, Eileen made eye contact with Sam, whose eyes were already puffy and half closed with emotion. With his arms at his sides, Sam clenched and unclenched his fists as he stared at Eileen.

She stared a moment longer at him before looking at her own hand, flexing her fingers, only to find no feeling. When she looked at him again she blinked rapidly and tilted her head slightly, “Sam?” 

Sam moved like an apparition, practically floating across the floor as he rounded the table to stand directly in front of her. “Yeah, hey…” he said while also offering the ASL greeting of an upwards salute.

“Hi…” she managed a weak smile and glanced at the others before meeting Sam’s gaze. “I can hear you,” she said, her smile a little more genuine. 

He couldn’t resist, he reached out and tried to touch the side of her face and she closed her eyes, trying to feel his warmth. His fingers started to tremble and he dropped his hand back down to his side. During the exchange, Dean felt a pang in his chest and glanced at Cas; his adams apple bobbing as he tried to swallow the lump in his throat. Cas returned the longing, sympathetic gaze. 

“What’s going on? How…?”

“We want to offer you the chance at being… revived or, if you want, to be escorted to Heaven.” Cas said as gently as he could, unable to cover the roughness in his voice.

She looked back at her body and then at Sam. “How?”

“I will be able to replace your soul back into your body,” Jack said from beside Claire. 

Dean looked between Sam and Eileen, his expression soft but eyebrows raised in the middle. 

“You can do that?” 

Jack furrowed his brows and tilted his head. “Yes, I’ve done it before.”

Eileen raised an eyebrow. 

“I’m very powerful but I will not hurt you,” Jack said as sincerely as he could. She looked back at Sam and they held one another’s gaze for a time before he continued, “you must make a decision.”

“Jack,” Dean held up a hand and looked at Jack over his shoulder just as Claire squeezed Jack’s arm, “wanna give her a second to process?”

Jack straightened his back then slumped before nodding.

There was another round of silence before Eileen looked at each one of them in turn, took a deep breath and then settled on Sam, who looked like he was about to pass out from holding his breath so long, his lips quivering as he had an internal war on whether to offer a reassuring smile or frowning as a result of wanting to cry. She smiled and reached up, keeping her fingertips mere centimeters away from touching his cheek.

**O.o.O.o**

**November 13, 2017 -- 7:15 PM**  
 **Lebanon, Kansas (Bunker)**

“Hey,” Claire walked into the War Room, where Dean and Cas are hanging out, talking. “I’m gonna take Jacky out for some fun.”

Dean and Cas both look up to stare between the two ‘young adults’. “Uhm, what,” Cas asked.

“Where,” Dean asked in unison.

“To the fair, there’s an indoor one going on at some rec center a few hours from here.”

“Okay, but why?” Dean asked and swiveled his chair to see them more clearly. 

Claire rolled her eyes. “Because, when was the last time you let the kid be a kid?”

The two men shared a look and then down in shame. 

“Exactly, we’ll tell you when we get there,” Claire said and started to drag him behind her. 

Dean watched them go for an extra second before he looked to Cas and mumbled, “I feel like I should be giving them a curfew or something.”

Soon after they left, they moved to the kitchen to start dinner. Dean was going over the basics of chicken noodle soup and what made his special was the homemade broth. “Now, most people just cube the chicken and cook the cubes in a pan then just chuck them into the pot. No. That’s not how we do it in this house. We take our time and cook the chicken in the oven-”

Sam walked into the kitchen and hovered around them while starting the coffee pot for hot water. He grabbed at the box of herbal tea he kept and let out a long sigh.

“Hey,” Dean greeted softly. 

Sam’s voice was more gruff as he replied but it was not used harshly at Dean, “Hey.”

“How’s she doin’?” 

He released a long breath and turned to face Dean, picking at the paper of the tea bag. “She’s still in shock, it’s a lot all at once, especially since everything seems so ‘noisy’.”

Cas pulled his lips between his teeth and frowned slightly. “I’m sorry, Sam, I didn’t consider her hearing when I healed her body. Or how it would affect her...”

“No, Cas, it’s fine. It’s just a bit of a shock, you know? She went her entire life deaf… it’s more of an identity crisis than anything. She’s grateful and kinda excited but right now she just needs rest and time to adjust.”

“I understand,” Cas said as he nodded.

Sam nodded back and offered a small smile, “I know you do man. She and Marshmallow really hit it off,” he added a little more lightheartedly. 

“Are you surprised?” Dean smirked.

“No, just glad.” Sam finally moved away from the designated coffee spot to join beside Dean and Cas. He peered over their shoulders and sniffed at the air. “What are you guys making?’

“Chicken noodle soup,” Cas replied with a smile before going back to his given task: chopping carrots.

Dean shrugged and looked to Sam again as he continued to prepare the chicken to go into the oven. “Figured it was something light and warm, for when Eileen is up for it.” 

Though his blink was weary, Sam managed a much stronger smile as he met Dean’s gaze. “Thanks, Dean.”

With a quick shrug, Dean brushed off the thanks and nodded. “Just let us know if we can do anything else. We all know what it’s like to come back from a long sleep… hence the soup.”

Sam clapped his brother on his shoulder and went back to steeping the tea. “Where’d the kids go?”

“To a… faire?” Cas said. He finished the carrots and moved onto peeling potatoes.

He pushed out his lower lip and nodded subtly before turning and walking out to rejoin Eileen in his bedroom where she was curled up on his bed, cuddling with Marshmallow. 

Sam made to fists, with his thumbs extended, and placed his knuckled together before twisting them so that his right thumb pointed at Eileen and his left was point at him. "How're you," signed as he spoke softly, just above a whisper. 

She took a deep breath and sat up in the bed. Marshmallow adjusted so that he body was flush against Eileen's thigh, her head in her lap. 

"Fine," Eileen said thickly, stretching all of her fingers straight while the tip of her right thumb pressed against her sternum. As Sam moved around the bed to hand her the cup of tea, she added; "tired" while twisting her palms inward so that each of her pinkies were resting against her breasts before rotating them up and down a single time while slumping her shoulders. 

After drinking some of her tea, Eileen visibly relaxed and blinked wearily up at Sam. "Tell me something..." she requested while using the sign for 'tell me' but pressing her index finger to her chin before pointing it at her chest in one smooth movement.

"What do you want me to tell you," Sam asked softly, tilting his head as he sat down on the edge of the bed, facing her where she was leaning against the headboard.

"Anything," she smiled, "I like hearing your voice." She held up three fingers to her right ear, her thumb closest to the cartilage while her index and middle fingers flexed downwards a single time.

Sam smiled shyly and thought about it. "Have I ever told you about when I first fell in love with you?" He formed an 'L' shape with his right fingers, using his thumb and index fingers, while he held out his left palm, facing it up towards the ceiling. After lifting the 'L' to his lips, he dropped it down to slide, face down, against his open palm from wrist to the tips of his fingers.

She twisted her lips into a sideways smile and blinked slowly at him while shaking her head. 

"Oh," he nodded fervently, "it's a good one." 

Eileen reached for him and tugged on his arms to bring him closer- he followed with no hesitation, coming to sit beside her. She lowered her head to rest of his chest so she could feel his voice through their contact while also listening to his words as he began. As the story went on, Eileen's smile grew even as tears filled her eyes and dripped onto his cotton t-shirt. Sam soothingly rubbed his hand up and down her left arm and affectionately grasped her hand in his other.

**O.o.O.o**

“What is this?” Jack touched the cotton candy and pulled back sticky fingers with a frown.

Claire smiled and kept holding the fluffy blue sugar between their chests. “It’s called cotton candy.”

The indoor amusement park was bustling with people, the amount of talking people, screaming children, and ride/carny music was nothing but loud, brown noise to them as they shouted to hear one another. Jack smiled, showing the pink of his gums, his eyes brightening with delight. “I like candy.”

“I bet you do, Kid.” Claire smirked and then jostled the stick so that the cloud like candy bounced about slightly. He looked at it quizzically then stuck his tongue out to try and lick it. “Oh my god,” Claire half screamed, half laughed. “What are you doing?”

“Isn’t this how you eat ice cream,” he asked with wide eyes, likely startled by Claire’s outburst but also doe eyed in his naivety of how cotton candy was eaten.

“Yeah, but this isn’t ice cream,” she laughed as she shook her head. “You pull some off with your fingers and then pop it in your mouth,” she explained. 

“Oh,” Jack pulled away and hovered his fingers over the colored sugar. “But, it’s sticky.”

“Part of the fun, Jacky.”

After another moment of hesitation, he reached forward and pinched off some cotton candy and quickly put it in his mouth. His eyes widened and he looked at Claire sadly. “It disappeared, I didn’t mean to.”

She laughed again and copied his actions of taking a piece of the candy. “It’s supposed to disappear, Jack, it melts in your mouth. It’s just supposed to taste good, you don’t really _eat_ it.”

“So, I didn’t ruin it?”

Claire became serious and tilted her head slightly. “No, Jack, of course not. It’s just how cotton candy works. Did you like it?”

A pair of kids, a boy and a girl, squealed and then ran between them, ducking their heads as they did. The girl shouting that she was going to get the boy back while the boy just laughed manically, brandishing a stuffed elephant over his head teasingly. As they ran away, Jack watched them as he considered Claire’s question. When he turned back to her, he smiled brightly and nodded.

“Yes, I liked it very much.” 

“Good, here.” Claire handed him the cone and let him eat from it while she guided him over to one of the rides.

“Where are we going,” he asked and then popped more in, letting it melt on his tongue without trying to chew it as he had previously.

“We’re goin’ on a ride.”

“A ‘ride’?”

“Mhm, it’s something you do for fun.” Claire said and then picked one to start with, a carousel. 

He accepted the vague description easily and stood beside her but slowly became anxious. “Why have we stopped?”

Claire was in the process of pinching off another piece of cotton when he asked and she stopped to look up at him. “Huh?”

“I thought we were going on this ‘ride’,” he pointed at the moving merry-go-round. 

A moment passed before Claire realized the problem and smiled at him. “Oh, we just have to wait in line.”

He looked at her with a frown, his eyebrows pushed together so closely it almost looked like he had a unibrow. 

“Okay,” Claire took a deep breath. “Sometimes, we have to wait in line. Take turns, you know? Not everything in life is an instant gratification.”

“Why not?”

“Because, uhmmm, because sometimes… a lot of people will want the same thing but it’s not always possible for everyone to get what they want when they want it. So, we share. Kinda like you and me are sharing this cotton candy. We take turns so we both get some of the sugar, right? So it’s the same for rides or lines at the store… everyone eventually gets what they want, we just have to be patient and kind.”

“How long will it take?”

“Couple of minutes,” Claire shrugged and then smirked as she playfully nudged him with her shoulder. “Sometimes though, the wait is worth it. We can use this time to bond some more.” She winked and finally took her piece of cotton candy. 

With very little hesitation, Jack switched gears. “Claire?”

Claire had turned away to watch the line as it started to move forward as they boarded and mounted their horses, lions, and other creatures. “Yep?”

“Dean, likes you.”

She turned to look at him, her eyebrows raised. “Yeah…?”

“How did you get him to like you?”

She let out a huff of laughter, “I sure as hell didn’t make it easy on him, or Sam, and especially not on Castiel.”

“But they like you, especially Dean.”

“Yeah, well,” she let out a slow breath, “remember how we were talking about surrogate mom’s?”

“Yes.”

“It’s like that. Castiel is your surrogate father and Jody is like my surrogate mom… Dean fits into that role too. He’s protective and bossy but he does his best to take care of his family- in any way he can.”

“He did say that I was part of the family… but I don’t think he cares about me the way he cares about you. How did you get him to like you?”

Instead of coming up with an answer, she chewed on her lip and then asked, “why do you think he doesn’t like you?”

“He often thought about how much he wanted to kill me and how he would do it…”

Claire looked down at the ground and kicked at a crinkled wrapper discarded on the cement floor, thinking back to the request Dean had made of her over a month ago. “That was a long time ago…”

“I believe he still thinks me to be evil.”

“Look, I’m really not the person to be talking to you about this. I can tell you that Dean _does_ like you, he’s just… he’s like a bear, right? Like, he looks big and scary on the outside but deep down, he’s just a big _teddy_ bear, he just wants to love and cuddle people he cares about. You just have to be able to see past the scary exterior and get him to show you the soft side. Just be yourself.” She nudged him again.

“Be… myself?”

“Yeah, dude, you’re adorable. Just, keep being cute and innocent. You do good things, Jack. You’re a good person. I see it, Cas knows it and so does Dean. He’s just… hey, remember about ‘waiting in line’?”

Jack nodded.

“Being patient? Just be patient with Dean. I know it’s not really fair that you’ve had to wait so long for him to come around but he _will_ come around.”

It took a second for him to consider what she’d said and then he nodded and smiled. Claire returned the wide grin and patted his shoulder before guiding him to pick an animal to ride. He picked the zebra while Claire got on the griffin beside it. 

“Is Castiel your father too?”

“Oh,” Claire thought for a second. “Not… I mean, it’s complicated.”

Jack frowned. “Do you think- do you think he likes me? The way that he likes you?”

“Of course, he does Jacky! You’re his son! He loves you.” She laughed through her nose. “Cas has got the biggest heart this world has ever seen. Don’t you ever doubt that he loves you with all of it.”

Jack smiled to himself, ducking his head slightly and then jolting with temporary shock then the carousel started to move, the animals bobbing up and down while the platform began to spin. Claire laughed in amusement to non-verbally communicate that all was well and Jack relaxed, leaned back, and enjoyed the ride.

**O.o.O.o**

**November 23, 2017 -- 9:05 PM**  
 **Lebanon, Kansas**

After they finished making the soup, Cas and Dean left it on simmer and decided to leave the bunker for awhile. They took the Impala and drove to a local diner off the main highway. Once settled into the booth, with Dean facing the door and Cas sitting across from him, the waitress sauntered over and offered a coy smile as she introduced herself.

“Hiya, how are you fine gentlemen tonight?”

“Great,” Dean said from behind the menu, Cas was looking at him with furrowed eyebrows and a tilted head. 

Seeing as Dean didn’t seem charmed by her sweet voice or vibrant blue eyes, she turned to look at Cas and flipped her long, dark hair over her shoulder. “How about you, Handsome?”

“Uh, good. Can I have a water?”

“You bet,” she turned back to Dean, her expression tightening, “and you?”

“A water too, thanks.”

As she walked away, Dean finally lowered the menu a little more to look at Cas. When he saw Cas’ confused expression, he startled a little and shrugged at him. “What?”

“She’s your ‘type’,” Cas stated, managing to restrain the air quotations though the fluctuation in his voice betrayed him.

Dean diverted his gaze to the window then back at Cas and added a scowl. “Uh, I guess… I wasn’t really lookin’. Were you?”

“No, but…” Cas turned to look at the waitress where she was currently pouring their water at the station while talking to a fellow waitress.

“But what?” Dean lowered the menu all the way and continued to stare at Cas, who was staring at their waitress. “Oh my God,” Dean finally said and reached across the table to grab Cas’ forearm. “Cas, we’re not here to pick up waitresses.”

Cas looked back at him sharply, his eyes narrowed with skepticism. 

He sighed and lowered his grip from Cas’ arm to rest over the top of Cas’ hand. “Cas, you and I… we’re ‘together’ now. For me, that means…” he took a deep breath and squeezed Cas’ hand, “that means you’re it for me. Do you-” 

The waitress came over and placed their drinks down in front of them. She glanced at their hands and shocked realization washed over her expression and then slowly relaxed into understanding and she smiled fondly. “You guys know what you want,” she asked, all notes of flirtiness gone.

“Just a milkshake - strawberry - with two spoons, please,” Dean said, looking up to meet her gaze.

She smiled and nodded, “You betcha. My name’s Debra, if you need anything else, just holler.”

“Thank you,” they both said in unison.

When she left, taking their menus with her, Cas turned his hand in Dean’s to intertwine their fingers. Dean smiled and his shoulders slumped, “Cas, I love you. And I don’t know if it means the same to you in way of being ‘exclusive’ with one another but… there’s no one but you while we’re together and I’m kinda plannin’ on forever here. Well, you know, unless things change for you-”

In a sudden movement, his eyes lighting with an intensity that was almost frightening, Cas leaned further over the table and squeezed Dean’s hand. “I will love you for eternity.”

Dean smiled and shook his head in amusement, trying to hide his blush. “You’re such a sap, Cas.” Despite his embarrassment at such a confession from an Angel of the Lord, Dean pulled their hands closer to him and then lifted so he could press a kiss to the back of Cas’ hand. 

He was still in the process of lowering their hands, Cas gazing into his eyes as he was Cas’, when Debra arrived with their milkshake; with a spiral of whipped cream towering above the frozen pink, topped with a plump cherry, and stabbed through with two spoons. “Here ya go, Sweeties, enjoy!”

“They have the best milkshakes here,” Dean said and took his spoon with his left hand, leaving his right in Cas’ hand. 

After Cas took his first scoop of milkshake, he closed his eyes and really pondered its taste. 

Dean had a spoon halfway to his mouth when Cas spoke up, “I’ve been considering giving up my grace to be human.”

The spoon almost dropped from between Dean’s fingers as he lowered it from his mouth. “What?”

“I know that I’ve been much more helpful now that I’ve been restored and-”

“Stop,” Dean said. “When will you get it? I don’t need you because of your mojo. You could be completely human again and it wouldn’t change a thing about how I feel about you, how much I need you. Not one damn thing. Well, I may worry more because you could get hurt… but that would be more annoying for you because I’ll be all over you for getting a papercut.” He winked and Cas rolled his eyes but there was a small smirk playing at his lips. 

“I just want you to be happy, Cas. Whatever makes you happy, angel or human or something in between… _you’re_ all that matters. You are important to me. You could be human tomorrow and I’d probably be even happier because then you could actually _enjoy_ eating,” he indicated to the milkshake with his spoon, “ and drinking…”

“I _do_ miss PB &J…” Cas admitted and took another scoop of the milkshake, taking some of the whipped cream with it.

“Yeah, just no benders,” Dean commented and smirked when Cas gave him an annoyed roll of the eyes and dismissive shake of the head. He smiled and squeezed his hand. ”I support you, Cas, whatever you choose. But do it for you. Okay?”

“Okay, Dean.”

They squeezed one another’s hands again and continued their milkshake.

**O.o.O.o**

**November 23, 2017 -- 2:59 AM**  
 **Lebanon, Kansas (Bunker)**

The bunker was in complete darkness, the red emergency lights knocked out just as the rest of the bulbs were blown out. Dean stumbled for a flashlight from his desk drawer and grabbed his handgun for the wall rack. He ripped open his bedroom door and practically fell into the hallway before steadying himself into his trained, military-like stance; his right, gun wielding, hand rested just above his left wrist which was pointing the flashlight beam outward. 

Cas hadn’t been in their room when he woke up and that had already put him on edge but now no one was responding or coming out of their rooms. There was no way to know when the lights had been knocked out, he’d woken due to a nightmare and found the bed empty and the lights out.

“What the hell was that,” Dean shouted. “Sam, Cas?!” He came up to the kitchen and checked it for anyone, friendlies or hostiles but found it vacant. “Claire?” No response. “Anyone?!”

He rounded his way into the War Room and froze, sniffing the air. Ozone.

Two more steps in and he was frozen in his tracks. In the center of the library, hovering just above the first table, was a tear in space in time. The orange, zigzag that marred the air zapped and fizzled and sent chills like electrical shocks through Dean’s body and his hands began to tremble at the sight of it. Dean had been so preoccupied with the tear that he hadn’t noticed the one person inside the room. 

Jack.

He stood to the right of tear.

“Jack? Hey, buddy, whatcha doin’?” He tried to keep his voice calm and withheld the angry accusations to himself the best he could.

When Jack turned to face him, he tensed but didn’t raise his gun any higher nor drop it lower. Jack’s eyes were glowing brightly, so much so they appeared to be smoking golden dust, his hair had fallen into his face as he tilted his head and peered at Dean from over his shoulder. His lips curled as he snarled and gold started to glow through Jack’s veins, emanating from his chest to spread down his arms and up his neck into his face. 

A painful chill ran through Dean as his finger itched to go to the trigger but he refused the urge, biting the inside of his cheek to remind himself that he was alive and this was real- even if he wished it was a nightmare. 

However, Jack had other ideas and he gnashed his teeth at Dean and before he could stop himself, Dean’s finger twitched to wrap around the gun trigger.

“Jack I’m not fucking around,” Dean shouted, “snap out of it!” 

Jack refused to move and little else changed in his posture to give Dean a sign of relenting. Dean could feel the breeze coming from the other side of the rift, it was powerful gusts that had him blinking rapidly to keep his eyes from drying out and Jack’s hair was being rustled and disheveled. 

“Dean? Dean! Cas? Jack!” Sam came tumbling into the room, his flashlights beam bouncing around with each stumbling step. 

In, seemingly, slow motion, both Dean and Jack turned to face Sam and when Jack threw out a hand in an imitation of a throw, as he had with Max, Dean fired a warning shot which whistled beside Jack’s shoulder and imbedded into one of the books on the shelf. Jack recoiled and glared at Dean. 

“No, Dean, don’t,” Sam screamed. 

Both Jack and Dean glared at one another, ignoring Sam who was slowly walking up to them. They were at an impasse, both of them staring at one another and unmoving. 

Finally, Dean twitched as he came back to himself. He flicked the safety back on and slowly crouched down and placed both the flashlight and his gun down on the floor, the room plenty lit by the light emanating from Sam’s flashlight, the rift, and Jack’s own glow. 

“Okay, look, see? I’m not here to hurt you, Jack, okay? Just… calm down, okay? Jack?” He was holding out his hands in a placating manner, taking slow steps forward to prove that he was unafraid. To go another step forward, Dean cleared his mind of any dangerous thoughts. 

“Jack…let’s talk about this, okay? I just wanna talk...”

While Sam looked like he was about to pass out from the stress of the situation, Jack tilted his head and turned to look back at the rift. His eyes slowly started to dim and the rift began to seal itself, the bright orange line becoming thinner and thinner until it disappeared. Without the light from the tear, all Dean could make out of Jack was the gold veins that slowly began to recede. Once all glowing nephilim power was gone, Dean reached for his flashlight again and pointed it at Jack, who stooped his shoulders and looked at him contrite.

“I’m sorry, Dean.”

“What the _hell_ was that? What were you thinking? What if something came through that? What the _hell_ were you _thinking_?!”

“Dean-” Sam started to interject but Jack talked over him.

“I… I was practicing.”

“Practicing?!” Dean scoffed and looked back at Sam like he was sharing a joke then indicated to the space where the rift had been moments before. “Practicing bringing on the end of the world?”

“No!” Jack looked appalled and offended, his brows knitted together and mouth gaping, “I was opening the other dimension… to help find your mother.”

Dean faltered but he could still smell the ozone in the bunker and it was keeping him from relaxing. “You can’t- where’s Cas… and- and Claire and Eileen!”

“Uhmmm...” He glanced over to the door leading to the rooms, even though neither of them could really see anything. Then he looked to Sam as though asking for confirmation, “sleeping?”

Cas manifested in the room and looked at all three of them. “What happened?”

At seeing Cas, Dean relaxed visibly and shook his head. “The kid decided to open up another tear in reality in our fucking library.”

“I smell gunshot- did something come through?” Cas looked down at Dean’s discarded pistol then at Jack who looked like a kicked puppy and finally at Sam who appeared to be piecing all this together stil. 

“That’s what you’re worried about, Cas? He,” Dean pointed at Jack, “ _opened_ the portal to the end of the world!”

“It wans’t!” Jack assured, holding up his hands and rolling his eyes. “I opened it to a nice place, it was a beach!”

“Oh really?” Dean barked before either Sam or Cas could respond. “The what was with the power high and threatening looks and arm throws!”

“Dean,” both Cas and Sam hissed.

Jack lowered his gaze and frowned. “I admit, I was overwhelmed by the power of the rift. It was my choice it was easy, like flexing my hand.” He flexed his hand and looked at it while he did so. “But it was like… I couldn’t control how tight or loose I did it. When I do good things, like bringing people back to life or even teleporting… it’s more like blinking.”

“Oh, that’s just great. You can’t control the bad but you can the good,” Dean scoffed.

Jack tilted his head, “You believe opening the portal is a bad thing?”

“Fucking obviously! You literally gnashed your teeth at me and thought about sonic booming Sam!”

Cas looked between Dean and Jack as they argued and debated, his brow furrowed, lips pursed and eyes squinted. “That’s enough,” he said gruffly and stepped between them. 

“Yeah, ‘that’s enough’,” Dean continued. “Get a hold of yourself, Kid, before you hurt someone!”

“Dean!” Cas barked and pushed on his chest, away from Jack. 

Dean glared at Cas but took the demanded step back. Eileen came in with Marshmallow, who took one sniff at the air and growled protectively, the unfamiliar smell of ozone and intense anger filling the bunker. 

“What’s going on?” Eileen asked and looked between them all. 

Sam took a deep breath and looked to his brother before moving to stand beside her, a hand resting on her shoulder. “Everything’s fine, now. Just a… misunderstanding.”

“I heard…”

“A gunshot,” Sam provided.

Cas jolted at that and turned to look at Dean for answers. 

“He- Cas! You didn’t _see_ him!”

“We will discuss this,” Cas said roughly, deep disappointment lacing his words and anger etched into his features. 

At first, Dean recoiled but then he straightened his shoulders and curled his lips. “Yeah, sure we will.” He stomped off, brushing by Sam and Eileen. 

Sam frowned, glanced back at Jack to offer an apologetic smile before chasing after Dean. 

After the Winchesters had disappeared into the hallway, Eileen frowned and looked around again, her arms spread at her sides. “What happened to the lights?”

Cas looked to Jack who winced and shrugged his shoulders a little, ducking his head in shame.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that 'miraculous healing' of Eileen's healing is kinda a terrible thing for me to do to her. Being deaf makes you part of a culture and is part of who you are and to 'heal' that without her consent is like someone giving their loved one a cochlear implant without permission. You can't make that decision for someone. 
> 
> Eileen is so precious to me and having her brought back is part of my wishlist for the show and I wouldn't want to change a single thing about her. She's the sweetest, most adorable BAMF this world has ever seen! However, it doesn't make sense to me for Cas or anyone to heal her body and bring her back only to leave her deaf in the process. 
> 
> So, that's why she has a bit of an identity crisis. I won't bring it up often but it will be mentioned throughout the story that it messes with Eileen after being brought back. 
> 
> I'm so sorry if this offends anyone, I really am, I know how sensitive this can be and I don't want to insult the deaf community. Keeping to SPN reality (healing everything) was not easy for me to do in this instance. 
> 
> Feel free to leave your opinion on the topic below... and I'll gladly make adjustments in character development to Eileen if you think something should be added. I am not deaf but I am a part of the community through college and my work, so I tried to be considerate of all sides. 
> 
> Okay, I'm done ranting. Comment or yell at me, I'll take either.


	3. 13x15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You guys, it's here, it's FINALLY here! The Wraith case originally intended for 13x05 is FINALLY being posted (exactly 10 episodes later, funny huh?)!!
> 
> The case is EXACTLY the same but the surrounding destiel plot has been adjusted to go along with timeline.
> 
> Enjoy!

**November 30, 2017 -- 12:55 PM**  
**Lebanon, Kansas (Bunker)**

Dean sighed and stared at the two plates in front of him, his hands on either side of his creations as he leaned against the kitchen counter. He shook his head, a far away look in his eyes. He’d cut the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches into triangles, they were ready to be served but suddenly he felt like it was a stupid gesture. While he stared at the white bread, he considered just throwing them away, Sam walked in and stood in the doorway. 

“Hey,” Sam greeted cautiously.

“Hey,” 

“You okay?”

“Yep!” He started to grab at the plates and then dropped them so they clattered loudly against the tiles. “No…” he admitted.

Sam licked at his lower lip, took a deep breath and walked closer. “You wanna talk about it?”

There was a long pause and he frowned. “No… maybe…” he huffed, still refusing to turn to face Sam, “yes.”

“Did… has he…?”

“No, not since last week,” Dean scoffed, his voice low and gruff. “I… Sam, I knew I’d fuck it up.”

“It’s not, you didn’t ‘fuck it up’. Maybe if you just talked to him…”

“Yeah, but Sam, he can barely stand to be in the same room as me right now-”

Sam ticked his head to the side and sighed. “Aw, c’mon, Dean. You know that’s not true. You're the one who's been sleeping in the library.”

Dean huffed and lowered his gaze, his shoulders drawn up and tense.

“Have you talked to Jack, maybe that’s all you need to do. Sit them both down and the three of you have a, you know, just… an open discussion about it?” Sam suggested, still talking to the back of Dean’s head. His brother was was progressively slumping lower and lower over the sandwiches in front of him.

“Yeah, ‘cause I’m known for that.”

“Now’s as good a time as any…”

Dean rolled his eyes, grabbed the plates - one in each hand - and turned to face Sam. 

He had been expecting it but Sam still took a deep breath at seeing Dean’s face; he had dark bags under his bloodshot eyes and his lips were chapped. Puffing out his chest, Sam sidestepped as Dean moved to pass him into the hallway. “Listen, Dean, just talk to him.”

Dean let out a morose sigh but didn’t stop his gait as he left the kitchen. “Sure…” he muttered as he passed by, moving into the War Room where Cas and Jack were talking. 

As he walked up to them, he held his breath and brought his shoulders up higher. They turned to look at him, stopping their conversation as he set the plates down in front of them. When neither said anything and instead stared at the sandwiches, Dean shifted his weight from one foot to the other and simply said, “lunch” before turning on his heel and walked back to the kitchen to clean up. He missed seeing Cas turn in his seat and opening his mouth to respond but falter when he saw Dean was halfway to the door.

As Dean put away the bread and jelly, his mind drifted back to the last, real ‘conversation’ he’d had with Cas.

*******

_“Do you want me to apologize for something I **didn’t** do,” Dean asked, his voice raising in volume._

_“How do you expect me to feel, Dean? If you treat Jack like an enemy **now** , what would have happened if he hadn’t been able to bring me back? Would you have tried to kill him on sight, even knowing what I wanted was to raise him right?”_

_“Cas, c’mon-”_

_“Dean, you shot at him!”_

_“You want me to tell you that I would have treated him like a son? Raise him and give him hugs. Tuck him into bed every night and tell him he's a fucking special little snowflake?! I don’t do that **now** and you would have wanted me to do that with you gone?”_

_“Yes!”_

_“Why!?”_

_“Because it’s what I want. You knew that even then!”_

_“No, I didn’t! --” He stopped in his intended reiteration of how he’d believed Cas to be whammied. Instead he decided to point out the obvious, “God, Cas, it didn’t even happen! You **are** here! I don’t understand why you’re making up hypotheticals. Specifically where I’m a bigger dick than I already am!”_

_Cas rolled his eyes and turned away, giving Dean a cold shoulder._

_“Fine, you know what, I’ll admit it; no, I wouldn’t have raised him. I wanted him dead the first whole month he was here **with** you, all I could do was come up with contingency plans in case he went darkside or took you away again. If you weren’t here, those contingencies probably would have become a lot less hypothetical. You want me to say that I’m the bigger man and would have been able to be good enough to see past all that? Well guess what, that ain’t me! Sorry to **disappoint** ,” he spat the word harshly, “you.”_

_“You’re telling me that you would have neglected him? Just tell him that he was, what, worthless? A failure?”_

_Initially taken aback and offended by Cas’ words, Dean schooled his shocked expression and smirked maliciously as he raised an eyebrow. “Would you expect anything less?”_

_Cas rolled his eyes again and turned further away from Dean, taking a few steps towards the door before turning to face him again. “So, if something were to happen to me. Would you go back to hating Jack, taking out all your anger and frustrations out on him? Trying to kill him?”_

_“No, obviously not. I mean, unless he was the cause or something! But, he’s proved himself- look, Cas, I said I was sorry! He was scaring the shit out of me! How did you want me to react?!”_

_Cas glared at him. “He was doing what you’ve been asking him to do for months.”_

_“Yeah, I know, but-”_

_“He only wants to do the right thing and you fight him on everything he does,” he gripped the handle to the bedroom and ripped it open. Dean stared at him with wide eyes, his mouth opening to argue against Cas walking out on him but Cas spoke first. “Maybe it’s best if you keep your distance from him until you can figure out how you want to be seen by Jack.”_

_“That’s-” Dean was cut off by Cas closing the door, leaving him alone in their room._

*******

That night, as he had for the last week, Dean stayed in the library. And, just as he had for the last week, Cas would come out and ask him to come to bed but Dean refused.

“You’re exhausted,” Cas said looking at Dean with a solemn expression.

“Nah,” Dean waved his hand at him dismissively. “I’m good, go to bed Cas, I’ll be there in a bit,” it was a blantant lie, the same lie he told every night, he wasn’t going to follow Cas into their room- he didn’t deserve to.

“Dean--”

“Cas, I’m really busy right now, okay?” Another lie, he’d been staring at the same page of his book for the last hour, everytime he would skim the words, he’d forget what he was reading about and would have to start over.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Doing what, Cas?”

Cas' mouth opened and shut a few times, before he narrowed his eyes and looked Dean directly in the eyes and said, “Pulling away from me.”

Dean visibly winced at Cas’ hurt tone, it made his stomach clench and his heart physically hurt with him but he couldn’t relent. He’d fucked up and it was only a matter of time before Cas left him again, it was better this way, it would hurt less in the end. “I’m not,” he finally said.

There was a considerable silence before Cas sighed and turned away, walking back towards the hall to leave Dean in the library, sitting up in the glow of the lamps on the table as he read the same page over and over until he fell asleep, his head on his arms.

**O.o.O.o**

The next morning, Sam sat down across from Dean and patted the table to rouse him. “Hey, gotta case. You up for it?”

Dean jolted awake and first saw the cup of coffee that was always to the right of where he fell asleep at the table before he looked at Sam. He shucked the gray blanket off his shoulders, that was always draped over him when he woke and rubbed at his eyes with the sides of his fingers. “What is it,” he asked and reached for the coffee mug.

“It’s uhm, a wraith,” Sam made a sour face, “probably.”

“Yeah, sure,” he said with a sigh and took a drink of the black coffee before he asked, “Eileen comin’ with us?”

Sam shrugged and diverted his gaze and then looked back at him. “So, you up for it?”

“Yeah, where to?” 

“Colorado. Twenty minutes?”

“Okay, meet you at the Impala.”

“Mhm,” Sam said quickly and backed out of the room. 

Twenty minutes later, Dean was dropping his duffel into the trunk when Sam came around with Eileen, holding hands. “Hey, Lovebirds, ready?”

“Actually,” Sam started and Eileen looked away innocently.

Cas walked into the garage and Dean’s head jerked to the side to look at him, then back at Sam with realization in his eyes.

“Yeah, uh,” Sam rubbed the back of his neck and pointed a thumb over at one of the other cars in the garage, “Eileen and I picked up another case in Wyoming. Cas is taking this one with you.” He started to back away and then handed Dean the mapquest for his case, “oh, and I already booked you guys a room. Here’s the directions.”

Dean took one look at it and took one menacing step forward, his lips thinning as he spoke harshly. “Why you meddling-”

“No, meddling, just how the cases fell.” Sam shrugged and started to back away again, Eileen tugging him along.

“Is there even a case or am I just supposed to show up to this reservation,” Dean shouted, no longer trying to hide his offense from Cas. He brandished the directions to the ‘cozy bed and breakfast’ in Sam’s face but the taller Winchester just shrugged.

“Of course, wraiths! The Psych Ward is, like, a thirty minute drive from there- tops. Check it out!” Sam said as he ducked into the driver’s seat while Eileen let Marshmallow into the backseat before getting in herself. 

With a withering look in Sam’s direction, Dean looked back down at the piece of paper with the address and brief description of his destination. The sound of the trunk slamming behind him made Dean almost jump out of his skin, his shoulders hunching as he jolted forward. He turned to see Cas looking at him expectantly.

“Ah, I got this… Cas… you know, if you need to be with Jack or whatever.”

“Jack is helping Claire with a ghost. It seems there have been an increase of vengeful spirits since we closed Hell.” Cas opened the passenger side door and waited for Dean to follow suit. When Dean pulled open his door, Cas continued; “Besides, a wraith is hardly a one person job.”

Dean gritted his teeth, his jaw rippling. “Hardly.”

**O.o.O.o**

**December 1, 2017 -- 4:27 PM**  
 **Colorado Springs, Colorado**

They’d driven in silence almost the whole drive there, Dean not thinking to put the radio on while he was deep in his own thoughts. Cas would peer at him from the corner of his eyes intermittently but said nothing. 

Eventually, Cas broke the silence and turned in the passenger seat to face Dean more fully before starting with a deep, ‘Dean’. 

With a crack of his neck, Dean shrugged off Cas’ intense gaze both physically and metaphorically by rolling his right shoulder and finally thought to turn on the radio. 

Cas turned the radio off just as quickly and set Dean with an even gaze. 

Instead of snapping at Cas about touching the radio, Dean huffed and shook his head without taking his eyes off the road. “Not now, Cas, okay? Can we just focus on the case?”

“You don’t even know what I was going to say.”

Dean shrugged and went to turn the radio back on but Cas placed his hand over Dean’s to cease the effort. His breathing hitched momentarily but then he dropped his hand out from under Cas’ and gripped the steering wheel with both hands. 

The uncomfortable silence stretched on as Cas returned his hands to his lap and frowned. 

Finally, more disturbed by the silence than having Cas yell at him some more, Dean was the one to break the quiet and growled out, “I told you I’d let you down. I told you to expect nothin’ but the worst.”

Cas snapped his head to look at him but Dean refused to pull his gaze from the road. “That’s your excuse?”

“No, an admission.”

He furrowed his brow and narrowed his eyes. “An admission,” Cas echoed, prompting more.

“Look, I’m sorry! It’s not like I was being malicious, he made a move at Sam and I reacted.”

“That’s not the point.”

“Then what is,” Dean shouted, his voice cracking slightly.

“You're punishing _yourself_ -”

“Oh okay, so I suppose I’m _not_ going to be sleeping on the couch when we get to the motel?” 

“Bed and breakfast,” Cas corrected.

Dean huffed and rolled his eyes. 

“And, is that what you want?” When Dean didn’t respond, Cas clarified, “to sleep on the couch, like you've been sleeping in the library for the last week?”

When Dean didn't respond, Cas diverted his gaze and they fell back into silence. It was a few minutes of Cas watching the trees speed by while Dean tried to keep his foot from putting the pedal to the metal. Dean desperately wanted to stress drive, push Baby to thirty miles over the speed limit, if not more, but it was the end of the month so cops set up speed traps everywhere and he wasn’t in the mood to sweet talk his way out of a ticket. 

“Look, it’s not like…” Dean finally broke, deciding that he needed this conversation more than he would ever admit out loud. “I get why you’re mad, I’ve been that mad at people. I’ve been that mad at Sam, at you… even Mom. When someone you love hurts someone you love, even by accident… it gets complicated and frustrating real fast. I get it. It’s just…” When he ran out of momentum he sighed and slumped his shoulders, his hands sliding down the wheel from ten and two to seven and five.

“Dean…” Cas was looking at him with sadness, his eyes droopy and eyebrows lifted in the middle. “This isn’t how I wanted the conversation to go.”

He glanced at him but as soon as he saw Cas’ eyes, he looked back at the road. “Whatever, we’re almost there.” Dean turned the radio on and Cas let him.

**O.o.O.o**

Sam was a meddling brat. Plain and simple.

The bed and breakfast was adorable and cozy. It was rated 4.6 stars on Yelp so everyone was smiling, there were flowers everywhere, and the place smelled of freshly baked cookies. Their second story room was themed to appear contemporary vintage; old fashioned furniture but freshly painted with modern art and patterns. There was a queen sized bed centered on the wall between two tall windows that made the outside field and pond look like it could be part of a painting. 

There was no sofa or any other furniture other than the bed, entertainment center, and two bedside tables. The shower was directly built into the room like a walk-in closet, no separate room or even a toilet- that was community and down the hall. Dean stared at it within the doorway with a deadpan expression and half-lidded eyes. Sure. Stick two feuding lovers in a confined space for at least a week. That should help. Sam just earned himself pink hair dye in his shampoo when they got home.

“Excuse me, Dean…” Cas said from behind, trying to peer over his shoulder. 

Dean took two bored steps forward and dumped both his and Cas’ bags at the foot of the bed. 

Once Cas was inside the room, he took one look around, lingering on the shower, then glanced back at Dean with an arched brow and slightly pursed lips. “No couch, are you sleeping in the shower?”

Dean turned to glare at him and snarled, in the same level of sassiness, and retorted eloquently; “shut up.”

**O.o.O.o**

**December 1, 2017 -- 5:00 PM**  
 **Meeteetsee, Wyoming**

Sam and Eileen left the police station in their suits, Eileen wearing a pencil skirt and holding Marshmallow’s leash as they made their way back to the car. 

“How you doin’?” Sam asked and placed a hand at the small of her back.

Eileen looked up at him and smiled. “Headaches are gone. I think getting out is doing me good.”

“Even though it’s freezing out,” Sam asked with a smirk and shivered exaggeratedly to further his point.

She laughed and leaned into him more so that he could wrap his arm around her waist and tuck them closer together. Once they were at the two door, vintage car, Sam moved away and walked a step ahead so he could open her door for her. She pulled her seat up to let Marshmallow into the back seat and then dropped herself inside the passenger. Sam closed her door and then jogged around to his side and fell into his seat. He started it up and then looked to her, just to see her face again and smiled warmly.

Eileen caught his gaze and then leaned forward to steal a kiss which Sam happily obliged to. They lingered after they parted, leaving their noses pressed together as they shared air euphorically, smiles on their lips. Before either of them could say anything, Marshmallow sat up and licked at Sam’s cheek, grazing part of Eileen’s in the process. They both laughed and separated.

After another second, Eileen smiled mischievously and Sam chuckled at her. 

“What,” he asked and readjusted in his seat as he put the car into gear.

“Do you think Dean and Castiel like the room we rented out for them?”

Sam smirked and shrugged a shoulder. “Honestly, I hope so. I know Dean’s probably gonna think I did it to annoy him but I think they just need some time together- just the two of them. Even if it’s on a job, you know?”

Eileen sobered and nodded. “Yeah, I know.”

As they started down Main Street, Eileen pulled out the records they’d gotten from the mortician and started to go over the facts and observations of the victimology.

**O.o.O.o**

Dean threw his head back and sighed heavily. “I am _not_ going back in as a patient. Not after last time.” The last time Sam and Dean had dealt with a wraith it almost got the best of them and it messed with Dean for weeks after it was dead. He was not going through that again with Cas.

“I will go in as a patient,” Cas said and shrugged when Dean looked up from his laptop to stare at him with a gaping mouth, “I remember what it’s like to _actually_ be crazy. You will be able to work the case from outside the institute while I work from inside. It’s the best option.” 

They were both sitting on the bed in their hotel room, Dean leaning against the headboard while Cas sat on the edge with his laptop balancing on his knees. 

“No.” Dean said and held up a finger. “Not happening. _We_ go in undercover as something else.”

Castiel cocked his head to the side, a brow arched in slight irritation. “You don’t believe I can do it?”

“It’s not that I don’t feel like you can do it, it’s that I don’t want you goin’ in alone!” Dean replied, his voice gruff.

“Dean-”

“I said no, Cas!” Dean went back to his computer and as though fate finally smiled down on him, he happened upon one of the victim’s profiles at just the right moment. “See, look, here’s our in.”

Cas refused to speak, his lips were pouched in his irritation and he side eyed Dean, waiting for the reveal. 

“One of the vics was a retired FBI agent. We go in as FBI doing a follow up on a fellow agent.” He leaned back on the queen bed, crossed his arms smugly, and glanced back at Cas, who shrugged a shoulder but his eyes were still narrowed, glowering slightly, at Dean.

**O.o.O.o**

Dean and Cas stood in the guest lobby of the hospital, dressed in suits. Cas was wearing his trenchcoat and Dean was trying his hardest not to stare at him. Both men had their hands in their pockets and looked around the room idly as they waited.

“I hate these places.” Dean mumbled.

Cas looked away from the abstract painting, of what he thought might be fruit, on the wall to look at Dean. “Why?”

“Way too many bad memories,” he mumbled, thinking not only of his time inside an asylum with Sam but also when he’d been forced to leave both Sam and Cas at one for a time. “We gotta get this case closed as fast as possible.”

“I don’t remember it being that horrible. The garden was always quite relaxing,” Cas said and thought back to the garden, remembering his discovery of his fondness for bees.

“Cas, you were a bit…”

“Crazy?”

“- _indisposed_.”

Cas smirked and tilted his head in Dean’s direction, his eyes soft.

“Look,” Dean said and stepped closer to Cas, his voice hushed to keep their conversation between them.

Cas held up a hand. “Now's not the time, Dean.” 

“Yeah, but…” 

“I’ve got your back.” 

Dean pulled his head back slightly and looked at Castiel with a befuddled expression. He opened his mouth to respond when they were interrupted.

“Agents,” a voice boomed through the room, echoing off the bare walls and tile flooring, and forced the two to take a step back. 

Both of them turned on their heels to face the man walking down the stairs. He was a tall, lanky man in a long white coat. His hair was shaved close to his head but not so that he appeared bald. He had thick rimmed glasses sitting on his nose and a clipboard in his hand. 

“Sorry to keep you waiting.” he said as he came to a stop in front of Dean, extending a latex gloved, hand. 

Dean took the offered hand and shook it firmly. “Not a problem. I’m Agent Mar and this is my partner, Agent Twist.”

“Pleasure, I’m Doctor Aaron Hopkins.” he said as he turned to Castiel to shake his head. Hopkins’ voice didn’t match his appearance. He reminded Dean of Garth but with a voice akin to his own. “I’d like to extend my most sincere condolences to the loss of Mr. Graham.”

“ _Agent_ Graham,” Dean corrected in character, “was a great man.”

Cas nodded.

“Indeed he was, it was a tragedy seeing his mind go the way it did.” Hopkins nodded. “However, I have to admit that I’m not sure why they would send agents to the hospital.”

Dean pulled his other hand out of his pocket in order to place both on his hips. “Well, Doctor, we have to follow-up the investigation in order to be certain there was no foul play.”

“Foul play? Who would-”

“An agent’s enemies never stop trying to exact their revenge,” Cas interceded and Dean snapped his mouth closed. “Especially when they are at their most vulnerable.” 

The doctor raised a single brow. “Of course, I understand.” 

“We’d like to question your nurses and orderlies,” Dean stated and pulled out a notepad from the inside of his suit jacket. “And we’ll need records on anyone who has had contact with Agent Graham.”

“Of course, Agent.” 

“Thank you, Doctor.”

**O.o.O.o**

The nurse that Dean and Castiel had been questioning smiled and stood from her chair, the legs screeching against the cement flooring of the room they used to interview the staff. When the door closed and left the two alone in the room, Dean lowered his forehead to his crossed arms that he had propped up on the wooden table.

“None of them, Cas. Not _one_ reacted to the silver.” he said, referring to the silver ring he wore on his right hand as he shook each interviewee’s hand. 

“Are you sure that’s real silver?” Cas asked.

Dean looked up long enough to glare at Cas, who surrendered with a roll of his eyes. The Winchester dropped his head again when he won the silent argument. 

“Maybe we’re asking the wrong people?” Cas tried again, trying to be proactive in troubleshooting their case before it went too far off the rails.

“Last time we had a wraith it was the intake nurse and orderlies have just as much contact with patients. Who else has consistent contact with everyone?” Dean replied, his voice muffled from talking down at the table.

“Doctors?” 

“All eight patients had different docs and psychiatrists,” he mumbled.

Cas frowned and leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling. A few moments passed before it dawned on him and he sat up straighter, his eyes owlish as he prepared to share his revelation. “Dean,” 

“Hm,”

“-the other patients?”

Dean lifted his head to look at Cas. A dumbstruck look on his face as he silently berated himself for not thinking of it himself considering the last time he _had_ considered it. “Good call.” 

They packed up their notebooks and pens and headed for Hopkins’ Office. They knocked on the door but were greeted with a muffled, “I’m in a session.”

Dean smacked his lips and let out a dejected sigh before leading Cas back to the hall where there were waiting chairs- he tried not to think of anything that could have happened in the plastic, bucket chairs. It was another twenty minutes before the door opened and a woman walked out, looking rather calm, albeit creepy with her greasy hair and sullen eyes, as she passed by.

She winked at Cas, who barely noticed, and Dean managed to control his lip curl but his eye still twitched. 

When they went back for the office, the door was left open and they walked in when given permission by the voice from the other side. “Agents,” he greeted, “how’s the investigation?”

Dean walked up to the front of the doctor’s desk, his hands still in his pockets. “We’d like to take a look at your patient records.”

The doctor worried his brow and removed his glasses. “The patient records? I’m afraid that’s not possible, those are confidential.”

Castiel walked up to stand beside Dean before addressing Hopkins. “Can you at least tell us the time that patients were admitted on or before the date…” he opened his notepad, his eyes flicking over the page, “- November fourteenth of this year?”

“It would really help the investigation along. We’d be outta here a helluva lot faster if you cooperated,” Dean added.

With a exasperated sigh, the doctor put his glasses back on and turned to his computer and started typing.

Dean glanced at Cas who shrugged a shoulder and smirked by turning his lips into a fake frown. The Winchester flashed a subtle smile of approval at Cas’ tactics before looking back at Hopkins. 

The printer behind the desk started whirring and a paper printed out. “We had ten in-patients that week, this list starts from the patients who arrived November seventh to the fourteenth, twenty-seventeen.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” Cas said with a cordial nod as Dean took the paper. 

Dean offered a grateful smile and led the way out of the room. 

“The fourteenth,” Dean said as he closed the door behind them, “that was when the first victim was found.”

“Yes, the first victim to have the puncture wound on the back of the neck,” Cas confirmed.

Dean nodded and looked over the list before waving it in the air. “We’ll run these against the victims and see who the common denominator is. Hopefully this will point us to the wraith- otherwise, we’ll be reduced to walking around the place with mirrors.”

“Now there’s an idea,” Cas mumbled.


	4. 13x15 Part Two

**December 1, 2017 -- 1:02 AM  
Colorado Springs, Colorado (Bed n Breakfast)**

“This has to be the one.” Dean mused aloud, his face leaning over his laptop screen and cross referencing it with the paper that Hopkins had given them. 

They had resettled onto the bed, papers spewed between them and on any bare surface of the mattress while they leaned up against the mountain of pillows stacked against the headboard. Moonlight streamed through the windows by the bed, if they were facing the other way, they would see the light snowfall blanketing the fields. They could still hear cars going by on the wet roads despite their consistent typing. 

Cas looked up from his own research and peered over at Dean’s screen. The woman in the picture already looked like a wraith, her cheeks gaunt and eyes sullen. Her complexion was waxy and grey and her red hair so greasy it looked brown.

“Isn’t that the girl from earlier today?”

Dean nodded. “This girl, Andrea Williams, has no background, no parents or anything. Her social security number belongs to a man who died at age…” he shook his head and scoffed when he said, “ninety-seven. She look like a ninety-seven year old male to you?”

“Wouldn’t the doctors notice that?”

“I’m not certain they do extensive background checks on patients unless they are criminals. And besides, Sam and I got in using a fake doctor’s recommendation - from a children’s book character - and our own false identities.” Dean smiled devilishly into the lip of the beer he drew from.

Cas smirked and nodded. “Has she been in contact with the victims?”

“Some but not all eight. But the last wraith could fit through the ventilation shafts, she could have gotten in a locked room without any witnesses or previous interaction.”

“Alright, let’s go.” Cas said and started to stand, closing his laptop and brushing the papers off his lap and onto the still made bed below.

Dean followed Cas’ rising form with his eyes before he blinked and but didn’t move to stand. “It’s after ‘visiting hours’, we won’t be able to get in.”

“We say it’s an emergency, lives are at stake.”

“Cas, we’ll hit it first thing in the morning, okay? I need just a few hours of shut eye.”

His expression softened and he nodded as he walked back over to the bed to help Dean clear the papers off and pile them on the nightstand, back in the manila envelope. Dean closed his laptop, set it on his bedside table to his left, then looked over to Cas expectantly- waiting to see if Cas would get back into bed. When he did, Dean visibly relaxed and got under the covers. He was in the process of settling further into the mattress, his eyelids already drooping, when Cas spoke up.

“Jack prefers your PB&J to mine.”

Dean rolled over and looked up to Cas, who was sitting up against the headboard again but was at least under the blankets with Dean. The space between them was enormous, both of them practically balancing on the edges of the queen mattress, but Dean was grateful that Cas was with him at all. “What?” 

“When you made us lunch, he told me that when you make them, he likes them better than when I do.”

He arched a brow but shrugged it off. “I had a lot of practice with Sam, he always complained about ratio until I got it right. Too much peanut butter and it would get stuck to the roof of his mouth, too much jelly and his hands would get sticky. He was ridiculous,” Dean finished and rolled back over, turning his back to Cas.

“You raised him,” Cas stated, “as you also helped to raise and protect Claire. You take care of the people you care about in every way you can.”

Dean’s eyes were open but he remained on his side facing the shower. “I guess…”

“You saved both of them as well.”

“What’s your point?”

“The people you care about, they have to earn their place, your respect, but once they have it… it takes a lot to break that bond. You’ve forgiven a lot of pain and betrayals but those that you do keep in your life…” Dean could hear the smile in Cas’ voice as he said, “you would do anything for them as they would for you.

“Jack is no different,” he continued, “I understand that. He had to prove himself worthy and that took time but I don’t doubt that you would have reached the same place with him without me as you did with me. It would have taken time but you don’t take family lightly and you felt as though Jack played an active role in hurting your family, so accepting him into it was more difficult than ever.”

Dean tensed but didn’t say anything.

“You are a wonderful man and you see the best in people; in Sam, in Claire… in me… even when we’re at our worst, you are there. I never should have doubted that you would do right by Jack on your own time. You were hurting and angry about all that happened, and even though you were wrong to put it all on Jack, I understand your feelings.”

“He didn’t ask for any of this anymore than we did…” Dean mumbled, his voice gruff.

“Precisely. And I _know_ you would have seen this on your own, even without me.”

Dean finally rolled over and propped himself up on his elbow to meet Cas’ gaze. “I’m glad I didn’t have to do it without you…”

After a slow blink, Cas smiled and inched closer to the center of the bed after noticing that Dean, during his roll, had brought himself closer. “I’m sorry I’ve caused you to worry so much…” he muttered, his eyes carefully analyzing the painful redness in Dean’s eyes and dark bags. 

“I was… I kept thinking you might leave.”

Cas placed his hand on Dean’s cheek, rolling more fully onto his left side to face Dean. “I promised you I wouldn’t.”

With a gentle sigh, Dean’s eyes fluttered closed and he leaned his head up into Cas’ palm. “I fucked up…”

“I love you, Dean, I will not leave you.” Dean hummed at Cas’ words and relaxed further into the mattress. “Especially not because of a fight… I only needed time to think about what had happened and you’re right; whether you would have cared for Jack if I had stayed dead doesn’t matter because it didn’t happened. All that matters is that you _do_ care for him.”

“I do.”

“I know,” Cas said softly and removed his hand from Dean’s cheek. Dean’s eyes flew open and he moved further into the middle of the bed, meeting Cas halfway as they fit themselves together at their sides; from chest to their legs. While they wrapped their arms around one another tightly, Cas tucked Dean’s head under his chin.

"You make me better, Cas. Just being here. You being here helps me to be a better person, so you better not fucking leave me again. I don't know... I don't think I could survive it."

"You're a good man without me, you've proved that on more than one occasion," Cas said gently, "but I promise, I will be here for you. We'll keep eachother on the right path and together... Jack too."

Dean smiled and nodded against Cas. "Yeah, we will."

After a moment passed between them, Cas turned his head a little so that his lips brushed against the side of Dean's head. “I don’t suppose you will show me the perfect ratio of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?”

Dean chuckled and shook his head against Cas’ chest. “Nope. I’m not giving up the one thing that Jack likes about me.”

Though a chuckle rumbled through Cas’ chest, he protested Dean’s statement. “Jack likes you for far more than just your cooking.”

“Oh, yeah, I’m sure he misses all my angry and violent thoughts directed his way.”

“No, not that. He admires your loyalty and bravery… and he thinks you’re funny. ”

Unable to hold it back anymore, Dean yawned and nestled closer to Cas, relishing the feeling of closeness again after a week of being separated. “Well, when we get home, I’ll be sure to be a better role model.”

“You are but I’m sure he’d appreciate learning from you.” Dean nodded and yawned again. “But for now, sleep. You need it,” Cas said and pushed his fingers through Dean’s hair at the back of his head soothingly. 

“Mmm,” Dean managed before slipping into the most restful sleep he’s had in a week.

**O.o.O.o**

**December 2, 2017 -- 7:46 AM  
**  
Colorado Springs, Colorado (Bed n Breakfast)

“Hey, if she’s the one, we might have stopped her before she was able to take a another victim. Mark this down as an actual win,” Dean said around his toothbrush, standing in the shower in his suit slacks and a white t-shirt.

Cas finished knotting his tie and folded his collar down. “This went rather quickly.”

He shrugged and spit the foaming toothpaste down the shower drain, stepped out and ran the water to wash it away and rinse his brush off. After he was done, he tossed his toothbrush back in his duffel and pulled out his white button up. They finished getting dressed in comfortable, companionable silence. Every now and then one of them would catch the other gazing at them fondly and offer a gentle smile- all previous tension about the unresolved disagreement all but forgotten.

Both of them checked for the silver plated letter openers in their pockets - if it works it’s not stupid - before Cas transported them; a rush of wind blowing their research papers all around the room. 

They manifested just outside the front doors and began walking immediately, with almost no time between when they arrived to when they took their first step- the transition becoming easier for Dean. It made him feel like a superhero and it was important that he looked the part. Both of them opened one of the double, glass doors leading into the guest lobby and walked over the threshold in step with one another. The receptionist looked up, recognized them immediately and buzzed them in. Set on confronting the patient they believed was the wraith, neither of them noticed the crazy man until it was too late.

The patient came from around the corner, his eyes as wide as they could possibly be, blown so much that they couldn’t discern his eye color. His wild, white hair stood on end like a cliche mad-scientist. He latched onto Dean and started to mumble desperately though there were no identifiable words in the man’s monologue. 

Castiel tilted his head to the side and squinted his eyes. “Is he speaking in tongues?”

“Wouldn’t you know,” Dean asked and leaned away from the man’s revolting breath. He pushed back on the man’s shoulders but to no avail. 

Cas held up his index and middle fingers, prepared to touch the front of the delusioned man’s head, but stopped cold when a male’s voice called from behind them.

“Hey, what are you guys doing with that man?”

The two hunters turned to look over their shoulders, Dean still struggling against the old man.

A burly orderly stomped up to them, his brow heavy of his eyes. “I said, ‘what are you doing’.”

“Uh, we found him like this.” Cas said.

“Uh-huh, and who are you?”

“Agents Mar and Twist,” Dean grunted and shoved back on the patient’s advances. “And who is _this_?”

Cas held up his badge as a sign of goodwill and waited until the orderly seemed satisfied before he put it away.

“Mr. Smithers,” the orderly grumbled and came up beside Smithers, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. 

A vicious battle ensued with the orderly tugging back on Smithers while the patient used Dean to pull away. Dean tried to resist but would be reeled in by the, stronger-than-he looks, old man.

“What is he saying?” Cas asked, intrigued.

Smithers finally relented to the orderly. “It’s really just gibberish, far as we can tell.” 

“Well, thank you, Mr. - uh...” Dean leaned around Smithers to see the orderly’s name tag. “-- Howlett.” 

Smithers continued to talk gibberish but was now fascinated by a spot on the ceiling and Castiel looked up to observe the same spot before looking at the man with sympathy.

“Uh-huh, does Hopkins know you two’re here?”

“Yeah,” Dean offered a reassuring smile and nodded- Cas mirroring him.

“Of course,” Cas added for extra measure.

“Uh-huh,” Howlett mumbled and started to escort Smithers away but not before Cas managed to brush his fingers across the old man’s forearm. 

Smithers immediately relaxed, the gibberish ceasing and he went willingly with Howlett.

As Dean and Cas continued their way towards Williams’ room, Dean looked over at Cas. “What did you do to him at the end there?”

Cas looked down at the ground before answering. “I gave him peace.”

Dean smiled as he looked at Cas affectionately, the latter seemingly oblivious to the admiration. 

“Well, Smithers was pretty helpful albeit kinda scary at first,” Dean said as they turned left and punched the button for the elevator leading up.

Cas looked at the button with a worried brow and narrowed eyes, knowing they didn’t have access, then at Dean. “Dean…”

Dean brandished a keycard and swiped it. “I’m thinkin’ we can use it to open Williams’ room too.”

“When?” Cas asked, referring to when Dean managed to steal the card.

“While the two of them were playing tug of war with me, I ‘fell into a tug’ and lifted it from Howelett’s belt.”

Cas opened his mouth to respond when the doors opened and revealed Hopkins, who was also going up. 

“Agents,” he exclaimed in surprise. “What are you doing here at,” he looked at his watch, “eight AM?”

Dean covered his own surprise with a winning smile. 

“Uh, to tell you that, uhm, we’re close _to_ …” Dean drawled the last word and rolled his hand in a circular motion as he tried to manually process what to say, “--closing the investigation!” he finished quickly with a pointed finger at the doctor’s chest. 

The doors started to close and Dean threw out an arm to catch it. 

“And to thank you for your help.” Castiel added.

“Oh, well, you’re welcome.” Though it was a statement, Hopkin’s voice raised an octave at the end as though in question.

“You know,” Dean added and shifted his weight to one leg, “are you heading up to your office?” he peered into the cab of the elevator and looked at the numbers; floor nine, the offices, was illuminated. “You sure are, do you mind if I ask you some more questions?” 

“Well, I-”

“Great, thanks,” Dean said and pushed himself into the elevator.

Cas went to follow but Dean spun around and held out a hand, pressing it against Cas’ chest. The angel could feel something under Dean’s palm and froze, meeting Dean’s gaze.

“Agent Twist, didn’t you need to get your laptop?”

“Yes,” Cas said a little too quickly. “Yes, I do.”

Dean nodded at Cas a single time before stepping back and letting the doors close. Cas barely managed to catch the keycard as it began to fall after Dean removed his hand. After the elevator dropped them off at floor nine, Cas re-summoned it and got on and pressed for floor 6.

When he got to Williams’ room, he peeked in the bedroom through the small port window and frowned when he saw the bed in the corner was vacant. He swiped the keycard, opened the door, and pulled the letter opener out. 

The room was dark save for the moonlight that came through the barred window. The bed in the left corner was empty and he turned slowly on his heels to look at the otherwise empty room. He froze when he saw a whimpering girl in the right corner, closest the door. She was shrouded in shadows and made to look smaller than she already was by making herself into a ball on the floor. 

“The- the monster…” she whimpered.

Cas had been prepared to shank a wraith but got caught with a letter opener by a quivering woman instead. Her eyes widened at the sight of the glinting shiv and made Cas seemingly shrink in size. Guilty for adding to her fear, he hid the letter opener behind his back and offered an awkward smile. 

“You saw it,” he asked timidly, unsure if she really saw the wraith or if she had her own hallucinations of monsters.

She nodded numbly and held up a trembling hand, extending a bony finger towards the ceilling.“i-it… it went up the vent when it heard you coming.”

Following her pointed finger with his gaze, Cas looked to the vent and tried to see through the darkness. When he noticed that the screws were still tight on the sides of the grate, his eyes went wide in realization. Before he could turn around to look at her again he was shoved forward with inhuman strength and thrown onto the bed, he started to fight back; lifting off the bed slightly and slashing at the air blindly with the letter opener. But a sharp pain shot through him, emanating from the base of his skull in the back and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. As his body failed him, Cas could still feel and hear Andrea.

She sat on his back, straddling him. “An angel coming to get me? I must be something special or you must be one _pathetic_ angel…” Andrea cooed. With her free hand she began to stroke his hair from behind while the other hovered above his neck, her feeding spike buried deep into Cas’ skull. “I may not be able to kill you but this vessel will take quite the recovery time after I’m through with you. Long enough for me to warn my mate that you’re on to us and drag you out of here. I can’t believe I’m lucky enough that you and your partner split up…” she tsked, “rookie mistake, honey.”

Cas twitched under her but as she sucked from his brain, he continued to lose consciousness. His grace worked to heal his drying gray matter but not fast enough and his strength failed him as his body became conflicted. 

Her spike retracted from Cas’ neck with a disturbing, fleshy sound and into her wrist. She licked the end seductively and smiled, “Mm-mm-mmm. You taste so much better than I thought you would. I didn’t think angels could release so much dopamine.” She smiled and ran her fingers down the side of his face.

At her touch, Cas internally grimaced and fluttered his eyes, the only true evidence to his attempt to move away from her. 

Williams leaned in so that her nose was at his neck, just under his jaw, scenting him. Her eyes went wide and she smiled toothily. “You have a _soul_ don’t you? I had it all wrong… I’m not the special one, _you_ are,” she whispered next to his ear as she shoved the spike back in through the original wound through his neck, earning a pained moan from deep inside Cas’ chest. “I can feed on you for the rest of time and you’d taste just as good. You’ll be like my own personal faucet. I bet I can come up with a whole buncha ways to get you all sortsa scared.

“You know what else is just plain delicious? Oxytocin. An angel in love? I bet that is just tooth-rottingly sweet. You see, it’s difficult to get to much more of the brain as a wraith- can’t really leave the asylum or hospitals or our cover might be blown. The only other option is to go straight up serial killer style; grab people, kill ‘em, and move cities. A lot more risky but you get all the different flavors- more variety.”

She petted his head and sighed heavily. “Unfortunately, my mate isn’t much of a risk taker. See, he likes to keep things simple, he’s low maintenance like that- ugh, I am so _sick_ of asylums! You know, this is the fifth one we’ve been to this year?” She rolled her eyes and looked at the side of his face in mock affection as she slowly brushed the back of her fingers down his cheek. 

“But,” she continued, “once he told me about you,” she adjusted her grip on him, turning his head slightly to push the spike into a different part of his brain, accessing the oxytocin, “ _mmm_ , we just couldn’t wait.” She paused and Cas lost consciousness, going completely lax under her weight as she drained him dry. “Oh, honey, you are just so in love. Did you have a good morning?” She giggled.

Before Andrea could finish her feeding, her head shot up and twisted awkwardly to look back towards the door- hearing footsteps coming in their direction. She climbed off of his back and ran to hide behind the door. 

Dean busted in through the door, just as Andrea hid herself in the shadows, and blanched at the sight of Cas unconscious. He ran forward, fear icing his veins as the color in his face drained.

Cas’ head was turned to look towards the door, the right side of his face pressed against the mattress, so Dean could clearly see his frozen eyes rolled halfway up in his skull. His body twitched in his effort to warn Dean as he tried to will his grace to heal his body faster. Damage to such a vital organ hindered his abilities.

“Cas?” Dean barely managed and knelt beside the bed, placing a hand on the side of Cas’ face. He could see the puncture wounds in the back of Cas’ neck and it made his blood boil, panic gripping at his heart. “No, Cas, c’mon… not again.” Pressing his fingers into Cas’ neck, just under his jaw, Dean felt for a pulse. It was there but it was thready as he his body fought to live, his grace thrumming just under Dean’s fingertips. 

The angel was half hanging on the bed. His upper half sprawled out on the mattress while his legs were stretched out off the edge, his knees lifted off the floor.

Guilt ran through Cas as he tried to focus his eyes on Dean, anything to give him a sign that he was in danger- that the wraith was still in the room. The chemical release that she induced in Cas by physical touch began to take hold and reality began to distort. Cas went into a limbo state, unsure of where he was and what his grace was supposed to be doing. 

As though on cue, the wraith emerged from the shadows. The dark circles under her eyes made her appear sickly and evil as she stalked Dean like the predator she was. Her stringy, curly hair hung in her face and moved with each silent step she took. Her spike pushed it’s way from her skin and she held it out in front of her like a knife.

Dean’s natural instincts kicked in like ‘spidey senses’ and the hair on the back of his neck bristled. With a comforting hand still on the side of Cas’ face, Dean pulled out his letter opener and held it discreetly in his right hand, in front of his chest. 

Cas could see the sun reflecting in the silver but his eyes were still unfocused. He could make out the shadow of Andrea as she came up behind Dean. Unaware that Dean was prepared for her, Cas writhed on the bed and tried to warn him verbally but his voice came out garbled and unintelligible- his brain still no more than half-dried goop.

Almost in sync with one another, both Andrea and Dean pulled their arms back in preparation of stabbing the other. Dean turned in a fluid motion to face the wraith, grabbing her right wrist with his left hand and plunging the letter opener into her heart with his right. 

The shrill cry she made as she held onto Dean’s fist, that had yet to release the blade, was ear-piercing but Dean didn’t flinch. Instead, he held onto her like he wanted to feel the life leave her, his eyes staring into hers with so much disdain it could have dripped off of him. His lip curled in contempt until she choked on her own scream and buckled. He let her fall, letter opener still buried in her chest, and then turned back to Cas, who was blinking rapidly and trying to sit up. Her death released him from limbo and now he wanted to get back in the fight.

Other patients started screaming and shouting in response to Andrea’s dying cry. All of them trying to say their piece or awakening to their own hallucinations and acting upon them.

“Hey- whoa, whoa, whoa,” Dean said and grunted in his effort to lift Cas fully on the bed. “Take it easy, take your time,” he muttered.

He kept Cas on his stomach, but pulled the angel up onto the bed so that he was laying more comfortably; legs on the mattress and arms at his sides.

“Dean,” Cas managed, his voice thick and strange even to his own ears.

“I’ve got you, Cas. Just take it easy…” Dean said. He kept his right hand at Cas’ back, between his shoulders, while he placed his left hand to the side of Cas’ head, Dean’s thumb brushing over his forehead while his palm pressed into thick hair. “We shouldn’t have split up, I wasn’t here for you, I’m sorry,” he whispered, his thumb brushing against Cas’ hairline. 

Cas blinked wearily but shifted under Dean’s hands, wanting to move, to talk back, warn him about the mate.

The screams and shouts of patients became louder as the door opened wider behind them.

“What the hell is going on here?! What have you done?” Hopkins barked from within the room, his eyes wide and mouth parted as he stared at the body on the ground in horror and shock.

Dean whipped around and stared dumbfounded at the doctor. “Okay, look, this isn’t what it looks like…” he said and lifted his hand in a placating gesture.

Hopkins stepped into the room and removed his glasses, staring down at Andrea’s body. “No, Dean Winchester…”

Dean’s eyes widened as Hopkins revealed his knowledge of who Dean really was and he glanced back at Williams’ body. 

“... this is _exactly_ what it looks like,” he said darkly. He closed the door slowly, muting the voices from the hall and leaving them only with the sounds of Cas’ labored breathing and the heavy pounding of Dean’s heart in his chest.

“I tested you…” Dean said, unable to mask the confused tone in his voice. His hand never left Cas’ back even as his right hand now pressed against his thigh. 

The discarded letter opener flashed in the light as Hopkins shifted away from the door and Dean glanced at it. If he dove, he could reach it.

“Gloves.” Hopkins wriggled his fingers on his right hand while his left stuffed his glasses in his pocket. “You know, I gotta admit. You two were convincing- _very_ good.” He clapped slowly four times before chuckling humorously, “but the gig was up when you settled for intake forms.” 

Dean narrowed his eyes and felt Cas shift under his hand. “ _That_ was when you caught on? You’re not giving us our due credit.”

“I give you too much. You’ve been doing this since you were a child and you still mess up. Get your act together kid. But I’ll be honest, it was the smell of your angel that really got me to thinking but I thought, ‘maybe angels just like to play house now and then’. It was my mate,” Dean’s eyes flashed with unspoken emotion at that but he said nothing and the doctor continued, “-Andrea who came up with the idea to use the two of you as our personal, at home buffets. But, after all this, I’m pretty underwhelmed by the both of you. I mean,” he indicated to them lazily with an open hand, “... meh.”

“Fuck you,” Dean ground out.

“Cute,” Hopkins said mirthlessly and removed his white lab coat. He hung it up on the door knob. After a moment, he turned back and cracked his neck and huffed, his voice became more gruff as he spoke. “You killed my mate, I couldn’t care less about killing you now.”

Dean looked back at the letter opener before responding, “you could still see her in Purgatory but you shouldn’t wait too long. I can help you join her if you want.”

A feral growl came from Hopkins and he flicked his wrist, the feeding spike emanating quickly. 

Without further thinking about it, Dean threw himself across the room, diving for the letter opener he’d let fall beside Andrea’s body. He slid across the wooden floor, his hand outstretched to grab it but Hopkins snatched it from him before he even got a finger to the cool metal. Just as he started to push himself back up, Aaron knelt back down and stabbed through the back of Dean’s right hand with the letter opener. 

A scream of pain tore from Dean’s throat as he stared at the hilt of the opener that stood erect through his hand, the point of it embedded in the wood panels.

Cas jolted in his position on the bed and let out a deep, furious sound from deep in his throat.

“Hey, hang tight a second,” Hopkins smirked and patted Dean’s shoulder as he started to walk towards Cas.

“You stay away from him!” Dean writhed on the floor and reached with his left hand to pull the letter opener out of his with a sickening, wet sound. He shot up to his feet and ran to pull Hopkins back but was surprised when he was grabbed around the neck by Hopkins’ left hand, his right holding Dean’s left wrist in a vice to keep him from using the letter opener he was gripping.

“You should have heard the plans Andrea had for the two of you.” He whispered huskily, his lips so close to Dean’s that he could smell his rancid breath. “She was so excited we found ‘an angel who cared’.”

Dean had had enough and brought the heel of his foot down on top of Hopkins’. Shocked and pained, Hopkins loosened his grip around Dean’s neck as he cringed and Dean wrenched himself free and then used his right elbow to land a solid blow to the side of Hopkins eye socket- his eye immediately discolored and swollen. He moved again to stab at Hopkins but when the doctor moved, he missed and sliced at his chest instead of getting in a solid skewer. 

Hopkins howled from the burning silver, blood seeping through the fingers he pressed against his fresh wound. 

The doctor recoiled and Dean grabbed him by his suit in order to throw him against the wall. Hopkins head thudded against the drywall that left an indent but as Dean rushed forward to stab him with the letter opener, blood dripping from his right hand and leaving a trail behind him, he threw himself back against Dean’s chest. His right shoulder collided with the center of Dean’s chest, knocking the wind out of him, and his fist landed to the side of Dean’s abdomen, forcing him to bend forward. 

As Dean gasped for air, he still tried to plunge the letter opener where he could land it but Hopkins took advantage of his vulnerable position and deflected it out of his grasp- distantly he could hear it clatter to the floor. Just as quickly as his breath had left him, Dean found himself in a reversed position with Hopkins and his back was forced against the wall. He blinked forcefully as he gaped like a fish out of water. There was searing pain shooting up his right hand and up his arm and he had a feeding spike pointed at his left eye like a lobotomy pick but all he could think about was Cas and what Hopkins would do to him.

He grabbed at Hopkins shirt in fists and shoved back. Just as he thought he was getting somewhere with his grappling, Cas was standing behind Hopkins, swaying only slightly. 

Cas grabbed at Hopkins’ shoulders and whipped him around to face him. Without another moment's hesitation, Cas placed his right palm on Hopkins’ forehead and smited him. The light forced from within Hopkins cast an eerie shadow against Cas’ scowling features as he held the doctor up by his shirt collar but, when he was dead, let him drop like a bag of dirt. 

Both Cas and Dean stood, slouched, staring at one another for a time as they breathed heavily, their chests heaving and heads lolling with exhaustion and barely contained grunts of discomfort. 

Once Dean had caught his breath, he put his left hand on Cas’ shoulder. “You okay?”

Cas nodded. “Are you?”

He glanced down at his injured hand and revealed the bloody hole in the center of his palm to Cas, who looked at it with deep consternation, before letting it drop back down to his side. “Peachy,” he grumbled then looked back to Cas who had begun to lean to the side, off balance. “Hey, whoa, how are you even standing right now? Let’s go back to the bed, catch your breath.”

Cas nodded again. They both managed to get to the thin, plastic covered mattress and sat on the edge, their thighs pressed up against one another as they leaned against each other's shoulders. The contact between them was enough that Cas was able to heal Dean’s hand.

“Cas, what the hell- why are you wasting your grace on me? You need to focus on yourself.”

He turned to look at Dean with barely open eyes. “Wasn’t a waste…”

Dean was prepared to argue but when he saw the look in Cas’ eyes, he stopped and instead wrapped his arm around Cas’ shoulders and tugged gently. “C’mere,” he mumbled and guided Cas’ head to rest on his left shoulder. 

There was hardly further prompting and Cas relished in the contact and closed his eyes as he rested against Dean tucking his head under Dean’s chin.

They had less than five minutes to themselves to recover before they could hear the nurses making their rounds. By the time they had to make a move, Cas appeared much stronger, helped Dean gather up the wraiths bodies, and teleported them out of the room just as one of the nurses unlocked the door from the outside.

**O.o.O.o**

**December 2, 2017 -- 12:23 PM  
**  
Colorado Springs, Colorado (Bed n Breakfast)

After they had disposed of the bodies, Dean insisted on examining Cas’ injuries.

“Dean, it's fine. I'm healed, I promise.” Cas argued even as he allowed Dean to push him onto the edge of the bed to sit down. 

As he maneuvered behind Cas, Dean muttered, “just- humor me, Cas, please…” 

He sighed but relaxed and let Dean pull his shirt over his head to reveal his bare back. Cas expected a brief inspection of his neck, where the spike had entered his skull but instead he got feather light touches to the base if his neck that trailed down his spine and he froze. The touches spread from reverent fingertips brushing over his skin to intimate massages of Dean’s palms into the meat of his back and shoulder blades.

“Dean…” he breathed, trying to discern the feeling that was pooling in the pit of his stomach at such favor- at feeling so cherished by Dean in this moment.

“Too close, Cas… that was too close…”

His eyes fluttered closed and he focused all his energy on listening to Dean’s breathing and the thorough attention to his body. “I know, Dean, I’m sorry,” he said, still facing forward. 

“Scared the shit outta me,” Dean admitted and moved his touches back to the base of his neck, pushing his fingers into the fine hairs there. 

“Me too.”

Seeing no scar from the spike, Dean relaxed some and then leaned his temple against the base of Cas’ neck, his cheek pressed against his warm skin. When Cas leaned back into him, he smiled and took a deep breath. 

They shared a comfortable silence together for a time before Dean leaned back and restarted his ministrations. “Wish I could see you…”

Cas turned his head to look at Dean over his shoulder, his eyes achingly diverted to look at Dean out of his peripheral. 

“No, I _see_ you, Cas- all dark, tall, and handsome. But I mean, see- see you. Your true form.”

“I’d blind you… or worse,” Cas replied sullenly.

Biding his time to respond, Dean ran his fingers through Cas’ hair again before resting his chin on Cas’ shoulder, nudging the sides of their heads together. “No, I know. It’s just, you’ve seen all of me, you know? Held my soul in your hands…”

When Dean paused for longer than usual, Cas turned his head slightly so that his cheek was pressed against the side of Dean’s head, supporting and encouraging him without words.

“Sometimes, when I look into your eyes, I think I can see it. I really see you. Your eyes are so blue and intense, it’s like I can see… the whole world in them. And it’s not like that when it’s anyone else, you know? When you’re not _you_ -you… it’s not the same. I know the difference now and I can see you when I look into your eyes. I just wish I could see more.”

Cas had closed his eyes halfway through Dean’s admission a small smile on his lips as he listened. 

“I love you,” Dean whispered as though it were a secret to anyone. 

“I love you too, Dean.”

They sat there, on the bed, for a few minutes just enjoying one another’s presence; Dean’s arms wrapped around Cas’ middle and chin resting on his shoulder as he knelt behind him. Cas covered Dean’s hands with his own where they were positioned on his stomach and leaned back so that he was pressed firmly against Dean’s chest and his head could lay atop of Dean’s. 

“You know,” Dean started, his voice rough. “Sam rented out the room for the next coupla days. Wha’d you say to takin’ advantage and goin’ out for the day. See the sights n’stuff?”

Cas smiled and nodded against Dean’s head, musing their hair together. “I’d like that.”


	5. 13x15 Part Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mostly just fluffy, fluff, fluffness. Just saying.

Dean looked over the lake from his seat on the dock. The trees on the coastline swayed and rustled in the breeze and he smiled, he’d been sick of all the snow and dreary weather and this is exactly what he needed. He reached for a beer that he assumed would be to the right of his chair but found it missing- that was different but he didn’t mind. Without thinking too much about it, he adjusted his grip on the fishing pole and waited for a bite, basking in the warm, orange glow of the sun setting behind him. 

“Dean,” Cas’ voice called.

He turned in his seat so quickly that he almost tipped the lawn chair over. When he saw Cas, walking up from the field and onto the deck, he smiled brightly. Cas was wearing, what Dean had admitted to being, his favorite pair of jeans. When they had gone shopping and Cas had tried them on and showed them off- they were meant to be Cas’, that’s all. The way they hung on his hips and clung to his thighs… perfect. 

Despite the jeans and loafers, Cas was shirtless as he walked up to Dean.

Placing the fishing rod down on the edge of the dock, Dean stood and walked to meet Cas halfway. “Hey, Cas… what is this, Casa Erotica?”

True to himself, Cas tilted his head and looked at Dean with squinted eyes. “No, this is your dream.”

Dean smirked at him then asked, “are you really here right now or is this a dream of you too?”

“No, I’m dreamwalking. I wanted… I wanted to try something.”

“Oh, yeah? What?”

“I’d like to show you my wings.”

The playful smile on Dean’s faded away to something more serious as he looked at Cas with wide eyes. “Wha- really?”

“Yes. Well, as close as I can get without hurting you while also something that you can comprehend- and of course, proportional.”

“Pro- what are you talking about?”

Cas smiled and closed the distance between them before cupping Dean’s cheeks in his hands to which Dean closed his eyes and sighed with contentedness. While Dean’s eyes were closed, Cas manifested white wings but kept the tucked behind his back- not that he could hide the twenty foot wingspan behind his six foot stature. He brushed his thumbs across Dean’s cheek bones and said nervously, “open your eyes…”

When Dean did and he saw the peaks of Cas’ wings, his eyes lit up in awe and wonder. “Cas…”

From where Dean stood in front of him, Cas stretched his wings out to their full span and Dean’s breathing hitched as the orange sunset shone through the ethereal white of Cas’ wings- giving him a heavenly glow.

Cas smiled and dropped his hands away from Dean’s face and held perfectly still while Dean walked around him to stand at his back. Without seeing him, Cas knew that Dean was reaching out his hands to touch but hesitating- his hands shaking as they hovered. “It’s okay, Dean, you can touch them.”

Less than a full second after being given permission, Dean gently brushed his fingers over Cas’ feathers. Cas shuddered and his wings ruffled at being touched so gently. A whispered ‘beautiful’ was uttered from Dean as he continued to explore this new side of Cas, his expression rapt and his caresses reverent. 

“Cas… do they really look like this,” he asked while gripping and gently petting over the leading edge of his wing.

“To an extent. These are my flight wings but much smaller to fit… well, my body.”

“Lemme see…” Dean mumbled and nudged gently at his wing, urging him to stretch them to their full length.

Cas complied and revealed their full length and width- so that his primaries were stretched to their tips and Dean had full access to them. 

With his lips parted and breathing uneven in his awe and excitement, Dean went back to stroking his wings- getting to know and memorizing every layer and single feather. They each lost track of time; Cas rejoicing in the intimate touches that he hadn’t felt in years while Dean soaked up every moment he had with seeing, at least part of, Cas’ true form. Eventually, Dean guided, with a gentle touch to the top edge of Cas’ wings, Cas to fold them back in and then immediately buried his face in them as he hugged Cas from behind. 

“Do you… like them?” Cas held perfectly still even though he wished he could return the embrace.

Dean let out a disbelieving huff of laughter, “like them? Cas, you’re beautiful. All of you.” Cas smiled at his words and allowed the lapse in conversation again, listening instead to the lapping water under the dock. “I thought they’d be a different color,” Dean finally admitted though he refused to pull away from Cas; his arms enclosed around his waist, tucked under Cas’ wings, and side of his face buried in the softness of his wings.

“They have no real color in my true form, not one that has been discovered or could even be comprehended by man,” Cas explained. “So, I went with man’s idea of angel wings- white.” He paused and looked out over the lake before narrowing his eyes and asking, “what color did you think they would be?”

“Black,” Dean said quickly. “But not all black but with a sheen of blues and greens… like a raven or something.” 

Cas smiled to himself, a small crooked smile. “You’ve thought about this a lot.”

“I told you, Cas, I’ve wanted to see your true form for a while now. So yeah, it’s not the first time I thought about it,” 

With Dean’s eyes closed, he didn’t notice when slowly Cas’ wings started to shift in color, starting from the top edge and slowly into the down feathers then into the coverts- one feather at a time in quick succession like water trickling down the side of a smooth surface. By the time that the transformation was complete, Cas’ wings had gone from snow white to being raven black- shimmering in the sun behind them. 

“Like this,” Cas asked gently.

Dean opened his eyes and jumped a bit, surprised at the sudden change and then smiled brightly. “Yes, exactly.” He turned Cas at his shoulders so that they were facing one another again. They both looked at eachother with unreal endearment. “Thank you…” Dean whispered, his eyes flicking back and forth between looking into Cas’ eyes and his wings. “Thank you for this…”

“Dean,” Cas reached out and pulled Dean closer, their faces so close together that he could start to count Dean’s freckles if he wanted to but he was too preoccupied staring in his eyes. “I love you and I love that you want to know everything about me as I do you. It- you mean so much to me and it means everything that you… care so much for me.”

“Oh, Cas… of course I care. I’ve always cared… I’m sorry that I didn’t make that clear for so long.” Dean sighed heavily and lowered his forehead to rest against Cas’. 

They both closed their eyes and relaxed into one another as they moved into an embrace; their heads now tucked against one another with Cas resting his chin on Dean’s shoulder while they wrapped their arms around one another’s waist. Dean was staring at Cas’ wings again but didn’t move to touch them again. 

“Are you happy, Dean?”

Dean laughed touched the edge of Cas’ wings again and was rewarded with Cas relaxing further into his arms, turning his head into Dean’s so that his nose was brushing up into the hair behind his ear. “So happy, Cas. Are you?”

“Very.”

He ran his index finger down a single black feather, his eyes dancing at the sight of the blue shimmer, then pulled away to cup the sides of Cas’ face; his thumbs braced against tragus while the rest of his fingers rested at the base of his neck. Cas met his eyes and smiled.

Slowly, they started to lean into one another, their gazes flicking between one another’s eyes and their lips.

Dean woke to the sound of his phone ringing. He groaned and opened his eyes to find Cas also awake and looking just as annoyed. After disentangling their limbs from beneath the sheets, Dean rolled over onto his side and grabbed at his phone to answer it. 

“What,” he grumbled, wincing at the glaring sun coming through the window. 

_“Hey… did I wake you up?”_

He ran his hand down his face and then threw himself back against the pillows so he was staring at the ceiling. “Yeah you did, do you feel bad?”

Sam’s smile could be heard through his voice. _“No. Eileen and I finished up, we’re headed back home. How you guys doin’?”_

“We’re done with ours too,” he turned his head to look at the twinbell alarm clock sitting on the nightstand; it was 10 AM, they’d slept in. 

They’d spent the whole day going to Colorado Springs hotspots and spent the evening in the Bed n Breakfast pool and hot tub. By the time they made it back to the room, after hanging out at the bar for a couple hours, it was past midnight. Exhausted from the fight and a day out, relaxed by the healing water from the hot tub, Dean promptly passed out. 

“We’ll be leaving around noon… be back by the fourth,” Dean added, glancing over to Cas who nodded and continued to listen in on the conversation.

_“Okay, see you there.”_

“Yeah-p.” 

**December 4th. 2017 -- 4:20 PM  
Lebanon, Kansas (Bunker)**

Dean and Cas came down the stairs to the bunker and were greeted by an enthusiastic Jack who came up and hugged Cas warmly. 

“Hello, Jack. How are you?” 

“Good, Claire and I got the ghost. Saved a family from being killed.” He looked at Dean and smiled again then looked between them a few more times. “Did you kill the wraith?”

“Sure did. It was a twofer- killed ‘em both.” 

Jack lowered his gaze as he considered something then looked back up. “A ‘twofer’?”

“Yeah,” Dean waved a hand. “There were _two_ of them.”

“Oh,” Jack shrugged and smiled again. 

Sam and Eileen came out from the hall and Sam’s face cracked into a smug grin. “Oh hey, how was Colorado?”

“Got the job done before they killed anyone else.”

“They?”

“Yeah, two of ‘em, mates.” 

Sam jolted his head back in mild surprise, “hm.” Then he looked back between them and smirked again. “And everything… else?”

“Yes, Sam, Cas and I are good but trust me when I say that your little ‘romantic getaway trick’ had nothing to do with it.”

Cas sighed heavily and shook his head. “Although we would have reconciled without the ‘getaway’, Sam,” Cas said while looking at Dean pointedly, “we appreciate your effort to help. The Bed and Breakfast was very quaint.”

Sam’s smug grin returned and Eileen was smiling brightly at them. “Glad you two made up,” she said and Dean turned to face her more fully.

“How about you, Eileen, how you doing?”

“Fantastic… and our case was pretty open and shut,” Eileen replied but was looking up at Sam with wide, fond eyes as she spoke.

When Sam looked back, his smug expression dropped into a softer one and he smiled at her affectionately before taking her hand in his. 

“Yeah, yeah, you two are adorable,” Dean said and waved his hand through the air. “I’m goin’a make dinner.”

**O.o.O.o**

They were sitting at the war table to eat dinner, there were too many people to fit at the kitchen table comfortably _while_ keeping the laptop open so Jack could watch Scooby Doo while he ate.

“You know,” Dean started while taking a bite of the lasagna, “this is what’s wrong with kids these days, no attention span,” he said with a playful wink at Eileen.

Sam rolled his eyes. “Dean, as far back as I can remember you’ve watched TV when you’re eating- sometimes it doesn’t even matter what’s on…”

“Meh,” Dean shrugged it off and continued to eat, his eyes drifting to the screen intermittently. Sam and Eileen shared a look and smiled in unison at Dean’s antics while Cas discreetly slipped Marshmallow some scraps from his plate. 

It was after dinner when Jack gathered everyone’s attention and stood up to stand at the end of the table to address them. “I think… I think I can open the rift to find Mary,” he announced and everyone froze and stared at him. 

“Are you sure,” Sam asked and Dean shifted uncomfortably but didn’t say or do anything else.

Jack glanced at Cas and when given an encouraging nod, he looked back and then nodded emphatically. “Yes, I believe I can open it safely and close it just as quickly.”

“And, uh,” Dean glanced nervously at Cas before diverting his attention back to Jack, “you can control… it?”

Despite Dean’s fear, no one turned to glare at him and rather waited patiently for Jack’s response. When he nodded again and offered a small smile everyone released their bated breaths, the only sound within the bunker was the sound of Scooby Doo and Shaggy running from a monster, the chase theme song echoing off the walls.

Taking that as permission, Jack turned his head to look towards the library, his eyes glowing gold as a small tear started to form about eight feet from the floor and slowly worked it’s way down like a jagged zipper. The smell of ozone filled the air and was soon joined with that of sulfur and stale oxygen. Marshmallow’s hackles raised as she looked at it warily. The other’s all got to their feet to look at it as it started to spurt and pop like an exposed electrical line. Jack opened his mouth to say something, a small lopsided grin on his face, when the rift suddenly contorted into a moving spiral until it disappeared into itself completely.

When they saw how confused Jack was at it’s disappearance, Dean indicated to where it had been and asked, “Dude, what the hell?”

“Yes,” an unfamiliar voice asked from behind them. They all whipped around with their guns raised and pointed at the teen standing on the landing of the bunker’s stairs. “What the hell,” he echoed Dean.

“Who are you?” Dean, Sam, and Eileen all asked in unison before Dean tacked on; ‘how did you get in here’. Jack was staring at him, seething. His eyes were lit up again, prepared to fight but not until one of the other’s moved first- if they hadn’t fired yet, neither would he.

He started to descend the stairs. “Really, you don’t recognize me? You’ve known me since I was yea high.” The tall teen put his hand about waist high to indicate the height of a small child. 

Cas’ eyes widened as he finally looked into the teen’s soul and recognized him immediately. “Jesse…” he said almost breathlessly.

Placing his index finger on the tip of his nose, Jesse smirked and nodded. “Bingo!”

Both Dean and Sam froze, their eyes wide and mouths parted. “Where have you been,” Dean asked, looking Jesse up and down; his tall stature, muscular frame which was accented by his tight black t-shirt and low riding jeans, and short cut hair that resembled Dean’s when he had been a demon. 

Jess smirked and ran a hand through his hair from front to back. “At Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.”

Dean tried to hide his smile but when he glanced at Sam, who still looked worried, he sobered. After another moment, Sam looked back at Jesse and frowned. “You’re okay?”

“Yup, and you three are interrupting my vacation in Maui with all your-” he indicated at Jack and the library with a flick of his wrist in a circular motion. “- _that_.” When the majority of the family all scowled at Jesse for referring to Jack as 'that', Jesse glanced at the laptop and nodded appreciatively at the Scooby Doo episode still playing.

“We’re-” 

He looked away from the screen sharply. “I know what you’re trying to do,” Jesse interrupted Sam. “And you’re breaking the world…” he paused and nodded his head back and forth on his shoulders. “Y’know, _again_.”

Dean made a sour face. “How old are you again,” he asked.

“Eighteen. And I’ve tried to end the world exactly _zero_ times, meanwhile, your super baby here has been progressively doing so over the course of less than half a year!”

“That’s-” Cas started.

“-true,” Jesse said with an air of finality as he shook his head. “You keep opening and closing these rifts and you are going to destroy this world.”

Sam shook his head, “but we close them back up…?”

“That’s the equivalent of fixing a parachute with fabric glue instead of stitches. The more tears with temporary fixes and the more you put stress on it… soon you’ll have nothing but ribbons and you’ll fall to your deaths.”

“We have someone that belongs over here over there. We have to get her back.” Dean said. 

“You can’t. You are weakening this universe,” Jesse shouted. “Anymore pressure and you will break time and space!”

Jack looked between Sam and Dean, watching the hope drain from their bodies as their shoulders slumped. When they looked down, diverting their gazes, dismay clear on their faces, he frowned and stood straighter. “No.”

“What?” Jesse looked at him in a mix of annoyance and incredulousness. “Are you kidding me?”

“She’s trapped there with Lucifer and I will not let her suffer needlessly, not when I can do something about it.”

Jesse sighed and walked around the table, brushing my Eileen and Sam, to stand in front of the younger nephilim of the two. Cas moved as Jesse did and stood beside Jack to face Jesse. “You will _implode_ the world,” Jesse argued. “You’re being unidealistic- You would rather sacrifice an entire world to save one person?”

Again, Jack looked to Sam and Dean, and seeing their disappointment and acceptance of Mary’s fate, urged him to continue his stance. “How do you know this?”

“Just because I manage to stay under the radar and not use my powers like a child wielding their father’s gun, doesn’t mean I don’t understand them or the utter destruction either of us can do. You don’t _understand_ your own powers- how do you expect to control them?!”

“I can do this,” Jack shouted and a bulb exploded on the library lamp sitting on the table behind them.

Jesse smiled smugly at Jack’s display of his lack of control. “No, you can’t but it’s not your fault. I couldn’t control my powers until much later, I was seven when I had to learn but I didn’t learn full control until well into my teens- puberty was a bitch but that’s for another time. You’re barely a year old in every sense of the word except the age of your body.”

“He’s right…” Dean said and turned to face them all fully. Jesse stepped back so that they were in a jagged circle, half of them standing within the threshold of the library while the other half remained in the war room, Jesse was halfway between the two. 

“Dean?” Sam looked to him. Eileen kept her eye on Jesse, clearly wary of him. 

“It’s not his fault but we should maybe discuss… an alternative, just to be safe.”

“But I can,” Jack shouted. “You’re going to believe him over me?”

“Aw, Kid, don’t make it about favorites! But Jesse has a point,” Dean argued. “He knows the extent of your powers more than you do- than _any_ of us does.”

“But-”

“I said no, Jack!” 

Cas took a deep breath, one that puffed his chest, but didn’t contend while Sam turned to look at Dean with wide eyes but also kept his lips closed, sharing a quick glance with Eileen. Silence fell upon the bunker and Jesse finally relaxed, his shoulders less tense and the crease on his forehead vanishing. 

“Good,” Jesse started, “I’m glad I could talk-”

Another rift opened, Jack’s eyes glowing with power. Jesse turned on him, his eyes flicking to all black with righteous anger. He lunged for Jack and his movement triggered a series of events; Cas threw himself between the two nephilims, Dean shouted Cas’ name while simultaneously reaching for Jesse to pull him back- Sam doing the same. They both managed to get their hands around Jesse’s arms but just as they did there was an explosion of power that lit up the room with a golden surge of light that engulfed all of the men. 

Eileen screamed for them and jolted forward, raising her firearm to fire but realized she wasn’t sure which nephilim caused the blast. When the light extinguished, she found herself alone in the bunker with only the two young men. Sam, Dean, and Castiel had all vanished into thin air. 

She kept her weapon trained between the two of them, Marshmallow at her side, growling threateningly. “What have you done? Where are they!?”

They looked at one another with wide eyes and looked back at a frantic Eileen in unison. Neither of them had words or an explanation, the boys were simply gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pretty please leave a comment on how you feel about this so far? You would make me so happy. This is everything I have so far but the rest is coming, I'm doing pretty well sticking to the outline now. 
> 
> Let me know what you think and I'll... well, I'll just be really happy! 
> 
> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Edited 11/11: I hate to be THAT person but I haven't received any kudos on this work and was curious what it was about this one that nobody seems to like so I could change it. Critisicm is so welcome it's not even funny! I clearly mistepped and would like to correct myself. Thanks!


End file.
